While there were a number of excellent submissions, the winner of the William Gilmer Perry Award (for best essay written in an English 1101/02 class) is Alan Dong, who wrote “On Happiness, Its Nature, and the Pursuit Thereof” for Dr. Christine Hoffman's English 1101 class this past fall. Our reviewers praised Alan's essay for "engaging the terms of happiness/pleasure in creative ways," allowing him to make "a series of thoughtful and thought-provoking distinctions between terms and emotions we tend to take for granted." They were particularly impressed with his ability to draw upon both literary and personal references throughout his argument, and they described his writing as "vivacious and original." As one reviewer put it in conclusion, "two thumbs up!"

The winner of the James Dean Young Award (for best essay written by a STAC or CM major in an upper-level LMC class) is Stuart Collier, who wrote the essay “Cinephelia and Online Communities” for an independent study conducted under Vinicius Navarro's supervision. Our reviewers unanimously gave Stuart's essay the highest scores possible, applauding his work because it makes "a clear and convincing contribution to academic/professional discourse" through the creation of a "compelling historical narrative of cinephilia as co-developing with changing film and communication media." They were particularly impressed with both the "impressive" amount of research Stuart performed and the clarity of his writing which made this, as one reviewer put it, a most "pleasurable read."

Congratulations to  Alan and Stuart--as well as Christine and Vinicius--on their accomplishments. There were many excellent submissions this year, but both Alan and Stuart's essays were indeed clear winners.