Dawn Powell Prize and Kate Carter Awards
Dawn Powell Prize in Creative Writing
The award’s namesake, author Dawn Powell, attended Lake Erie College from 1914 to 1918 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. During her time at LEC, Powell edited and wrote for the College’s literary publication and was active in theater. By the time of her death in 1965, she had written 16 novels, nine plays, and numerous short stories.
Kate Carter Awards for Excellence in First-Year Writing and Excellence in Writing in the Core
Kate Carter was an award-winning poet and recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship in Poetry. She received her MA in Creative Writing from Antioch University McGregor and, prior to her arrival at Lake Erie, taught in the Psychology department at Antioch University New England and the English and Women’s Studies departments at New Mexico State University. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Covenant and Lodestar: Night Sky. Named for Professor Kate Carter, who was a creative writer, a poet, an artist, and a much-loved and long-serving adjunct professor in the Lake Erie College Department of English, these awards honor Professor Carter’s legacy of academic rigor, student engagement, thoughtful mentoring and commitment to excellent writing.
2024 Winners - Read these essays here!
Alumni Dawn Powell Award for Fiction: Lauren Nehoda, “Burn from the Ground Up” Alumni Dawn Powell Award for Fiction: Mia Starnoni, “Revolution By Night” Student Dawn Powell Award for Fiction 1st Place: Madison Amburgey, “Trauma Bonds” Student Dawn Powell Award for Fiction 2nd Place: Robin Pahoulis, “Questions for Another Day” Student Dawn Powell Award for Poetry 1st Place: Eleanor Ramos, “Sipping Sunsets and Savoring Scars” Student Dawn Powell Award for Poetry 2nd Place: Mackenzie Meeker, “Papa Is There” Kate Carter Award for Best Writing in EN 101 1st Place: Micah Geise, “Sharif’s Argument Against US Military Vocabulary” Kate Carter Award for Best Writing in EN 101 2nd Place: Kim Lorenz, “The Girl from Germany” Kate Carter Award for Best Writing in EN 101 3rd Place: Ximena Rea “It’s Actually Not Fine, I Wanted to Cry Earlier: An Autobiography” Kate Carter Award for Best Writing in EN 101 Honorable Mention: Patrick McKinney, “The Importance of I” Kate Carter Award for Best Writing in the CORE: Mackenzie Meeker, “A Queen’s Mourning and Her Influence on the Victorian Era” Kate Carter Award for Best Writing in the CORE: Tayler Wilber, “Lady Audley’s Secret: The Madwoman Barbie Doll of the Victorian Era”
2023 Dawn Powell Prizes & Inaugural Kate Carter Award Winners
Dawn Powell Student Poetry Director's Choice: Emilia Diaz “My Bird” Dawn Powell Student Poetry 1st Place: Eleanor Ramos “Hireath” Dawn Powell Student Poetry 2nd Place: Bond Brewster Dawn Powell Student Short Story: Sarah Turniski “Do Not Be Tempted” Dawn Powell Student Short Story: Justine Stanley “Lapse” Dawn Powell Alumni/Faculty/Staff 1st Place: Laura Greenwald “Grackles” Dawn Powell Alumni/Faculty/Staff 2nd Place: Taylor Thorpe “Devout Through Doubt” Kate Carter CORE Award 1st Place: Graham Lofstead “Shifting British Identity Seen over The Remains of the Day, Mrs. Dalloway, and Beyond” Kate Carter CORE Award 2nd Place: Emily Moran “Public Schools vs. Charter Schools: How Funding Impacts Children K-12” Read this year’s winners here
2022 Dawn Powell Prizes
Student Poetry 1st Place: Nicholas Kirchner "Winter Is Coming" Student Poetry 2nd Place: Rachel Ward "Untitled 229" Student Short Story: Mia Starnoni "My Boyfriend's a Werewolf, and It's Causing Some Issues" Student Short Story: Isabelle Laughlin "Robert Fredlyn" Alumni/Faculty/Staff Poetry 1st Place: Laura Greenwald "With Open Hands" Alumni/Faculty/Staff Poetry 2nd Place: Maryann Schulten "Waiting for Captain Cook" Alumni/Faculty/Staff Short Fiction 1st Place: Raquel Lauritzen "Driving Route 1" Alumni/Faculty/Staff Short Fiction 2nd Place: Joan Parks "Calling Hours"
2020 Dawn Powell Prizes
Poetry 1st Place: Tim Messenger "I Feel the Reaper" Poetry 2nd Place: Devon Timm "The Decision" Short Story 1st Place: Blake King "Paralysed" Short Story 2nd Place: Mikayla Habina "Miss Dalloway"
2018 Dawn Powell Prizes
Poetry 1st Place: Katelynn Archer Poetry 2nd Place: Bond Brewster Poetry Honorable Mention: Quam Jackson Short Story 1st Place: Ellie Barthol Short Story 2nd Place: Emily Boban Short Story Honorable Mention: Robert Goe