The Ilona Karmel Writing Prizes Competition, chaired by Dr. Edward Barrett, senior lecturer in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, recognized the writing achievements of 12 seniors, nine juniors, six sophomores and two freshmen. The winners were chosen from 174 entries by 95 students in the categories of essay, drama, poetry, short story, fiction, science fiction, and scientific and technical writing.
BOIT MANUSCRIPT PRIZE
In drama, first place went to "Sandcastles; Empty" by Thomas Cork, a senior in theater arts and chemistry from Tampa, FL. In second place was "Even the Cha-Cha" by Debora Lui of Great Neck, NY, a sophomore in electrical engineering and computer science (EECS). Honorable mention went to "Museum" by Sarah G. Gensheimer of Wharton, NJ, a senior in chemical engineering.
First place in the essay category was "The Last Road to Boston" by Yanni Kosta Tsipis, a junior in civil engineering and urban planning from Chestnut Hill, MA. Soyoung Jung, a senior in materials science and engineering from Flushing, NY, won first prize in the fiction category for "The Green Sunrise and Other Stories."
In the poetry category, "Lilikoi" by Moana Minton of Laie, HI, a junior in writing, was awarded first prize, and "Inside Pandora's Box" by Rodin O. Entchev, a sophomore in aeronautics and astronautics from Brookline, was awarded second prize.
DeWITT WALLACE PRIZE FOR SCIENCE WRITING FOR THE PUBLIC
First place was awarded to "Suppose You Were in Hell: A Paper on Infinite Sets" by Candice Shizu Kamachi, a senior in mathematics from Los Angeles. Second place went to "Message in a Bottle" by Samidh Chakrabarti, a junior in civil engineering and EECS from Corvallis, OR, and honorable mention went to "I Shall Please" by Paul Peng, a freshman in chemistry from Wilmington, DE.
ROBERT A. BOIT WRITING PRIZE
In the contest's essay category, first place was awarded to "The Traitor" by Albert Chan, a junior in mechanical engineering from Syracuse, NY. In second place was "Islam and Islamic Geometric Art" by Carl Steinbach, a junior in EECS from Sudbury, MA. Third place went to "Developing Haiti" by Sanjay Basu, a sophomore in brain and cognitive sciences from Lisle, IL. Honorable Mention went to "Should We Allow the Sale of Transplantable Organs?" by Ying Zhang, a senior in EECS from Atlanta.
In the poetry category, "Freestyle" by Talia Kingsbury, a senior in mechanical engineering from Sierra Vista, AZ, won first prize. Second prize was given to "Ronen" by Hilarie C. Tomasiewicz of Milford, CT, a junior in biology. "Salt, Clay and Polymers" by Soyoung Jung won third prize, while "Tender Works" by Helen Y. Lee, a senior in architecture from Parsippany, NY, earned an honorable mention.
In the short story category, "Winters" by Ehren Foss, a sophomore in EECS from Mequon, WI, was awarded first prize, and "Integrity" by Kris Schnee, a sophomore in biology from York, PA, took second place. "To Chopped-Up Frogs" by Jennifer K. Son, a sophomore in biology from Essex Junction, VT, won third prize. Honorable mention went to "Coming Around" by Talia Kingsbury, and "Ladybug" by Robert P. Ziemian, a senior in environmental engineering from Westwood, MA.
OTHER PRIZES
A short story titled "Refugee" by Margaret Douglass, a freshman in biology from Lutherville, MD, won the Ellen King Prize for Freshman Writing.
In the Louis Kampf Prize in Women's and Gender Studies contest, "Ordinary" by Rebecca Loh, a junior in brain and cognitive sciences from Seoul, South Korea, won first place, and "The Shadow Woman: Who is Mary Gordon? A Discussion on an Author's Feminist Identify" by Megan Galbraith, a junior in mathematics and computer science from Clearwater, FL, took second place.
"Seed's Day" by Kris Schnee took first place in the Prize for Writing Science Fiction contest. Second Place was "Childcare Providers" by Clifton Leigh, a senior in chemistry from Brookline. Honorable mention went to "Broken" by Anthony Julian, a senior in writing from Baxter, TN.
First place in the competition for the S. Klein Prize for Scientific and Technical Writing was accorded to "Curtailing Tobacco's Global Threat" by Jason H. Wasfy, a junior in chemical engineering from Great Falls, VA. Abraham Flaxman, a senior in mathematics from Evanston, IL, took second place for "Randomized Vertex Cover."
In the contest for the WHS Prize for Engineering Writing, "Modeling of Drag Reduction by Polymers in Crude Oil Pipelines: Effect of Injection and Mixing of the Polymeric Additive" by Sarah G. Gensheimer took first prize. "Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging: A Review of Non-Invasive Techniques to Observe Mechanical Characteristics of Biological Tissues" by Sripriya Natarajan, a senior in EECS from Timonium, MD, came in second.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on November 1, 2000.
