Congratulations to our 2022 LMC Award winners, Victoria Chan, William Sheppard, Vinez Lyde, and Camille Trotman!

The annual LMC Student Awards recognize the exceptional writing and creativity of students across majors in School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) courses.

The James Dean Young Award

Victoria Chan, a second-year LMC major, won the James Dean Young Award.

The James Dean Young Award recognizes students majoring in LMC or Computational Media (CM) who write the best essay in any 2000-, 3000- or 4000-level class. The award comes with a $500 prize.

Nihad Farooq, associate professor in LMC, nominated Chan for her paper, “Asian American Children’s Identity,” written for Farooq’s LMC 3202: Asian American Literature class.

The judges commented on Chan’s sensitive analysis of childhood experience in Ocean Vuong’s semi-autobiographical novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, and Julie Otsuka’s novel, The Buddha in the Attic. 

The LMC Creative Writing Award

William Sheppard, a fourth-year computer science major, won this year’s LMC Creative Writing Award.

The LMC Creative Writing Award goes to a student who has written the best creative writing text (poem, story, screenplay, play, novel, etc.) in any LMC or English class.

Blake Leland, associate professor in LMC, nominated Sheppard for “a fine Imagist poem” written for Leland’s LMC 3226: Major Authors class.

Although LMC 3226 is a literature class instead of a class in creative writing, the judges agreed that Sheppard’s poem reveals his understanding of Imagist work.  

The LMC Diversity in Creativity and Research Award

Vinez Lyde, a fourth-year chemical and biomedical engineering student, and Camille Trotman, a second-year LMC major, are this year’s LMC Diversity in Creativity and Research Award winners.

The LMC Diversity in Creativity and Research Award goes to a student in an LMC, CM, or English class who has produced scholarly or creative work that prioritizes issues of diversity, social justice, cross-cultural engagement, and community outreach, from the local to the global.

Also nominated by Farooq, Lyde and Trotman produced a multi-episode podcast called “Hidden in Plain Sight: Intersectionality of Being Black and a Woman” for LMC 2350: Introduction to Social Justice. 

The judges praised Lyde and Trotman’s ambitious project, which integrated their understanding of social justice and media.