Winners have been announced in the 79th annual McKinney Writing Contest, which recognizes top writers in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student community. An average of 230 students enter each year to compete for cash prizes, which are awarded in both undergraduate and graduate divisions in four different categories: Fiction or Drama, Poetry, Essay/Creative Nonfiction, and Electronic Mixed Media Using Language. The top prize is $300, the second place is $175, and the third place earns $75.

“Nothing is as important to the students at Rensselaer as their ability to communicate,” said Merrill Whitburn, a professor of English at Rensselaer and the chair of the McKinney Award Committee. “Whatever they do later in life, whatever their career, writing is critical to their development as leaders in their field.”

First place in the category of Undergraduate Poetry went to Boden Whalen, a biochemistry and biophysics student, for Sea Sickness. The Graduate Poetry first prize was won by Hayley McCullough from the Department of Communication and Media.

The Undergraduate Electronic Media first prize went to Kaitlyn Briscoe, who studies electronic arts and communication and media, for Orys. Van Tran Nguyen, who studies arts, took the graduate first prize in the same category.

First prize in the Undergraduate Fiction/Drama category went to Logan Harris, a mechanical and biomedical engineering student, for Search History. First prize in the Graduate Fiction/Drama category was won by Nathaniel Stanton, a student in science and technology studies, for his entry, Rupture.

John Salvucci, an undergraduate student in biochemistry and biophysics, won first prize in the Essay/Creative Nonfiction category for his submission, Lilap Song. First prize in the graduate division of the same category went to Maggie Mang, a science and technology studies student, for On Refusing Acts of Enclosure.

For a full list of award winners in all categories, visit this link.

The McKinney Writing Contest began in 1941 when Dr. Samuel P. McKinney, Class of 1884, established an endowment as a memorial to his late wife, Mary A. Earl McKinney. From its inception, the McKinney competition has been administered and judged by the faculty of the Department of Communication and Media in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

In addition, the competition receives annual support from the Vollmer W. Fries Lecture Series, the Rensselaer Union, Friends of Folsom Library, and The New York State Writers Institute.