Annual PNC Writing Contest Winners Announced

The winners of the Purdue University North Central annual Student Writing Contest for the 2010 - 2011 year have been announced by Robert Mellin, continuing lecturer of English and director of the writing contest. The winning entries are published in Portals, the annual PNC student literary journal.


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The contest judging teams included faculty, staff as well as students.

There will be a banquet to honor the winners on April 28, at 6 p.m. in the PNC Library-Student-Faculty Building, Room 144. The best overall submission will be announced at the banquet.

The winners are:

  • Personal Essay: first place - "Caite and Disney" by Elyse Winter, LaPorte; second place - "Food Fight" by Christina M. Fall, Kingsford Heights; third place - "Seasons of Love" by Hilary Lynne Jordan, Valparaiso.
  • English Composition Research Essay: first place - "River of Blood" by Dana Miller, Michigan City; second place - "True Cost of Organics" by Christi Strom, Valparaiso; third place - "The Power of Her Significance, The Significance of Her Power: An Analysis of Vladamir Nabakov's Lolita" by Jennifer A. Metyko, La Porte.
  • Campus-Wide Research Essay: first place - "The Ecuadorian Ethnicity Today" by Jennifer Evan, Valparaiso; second place - "Mainstreaming Hearing-Impaired Children" by Frederick Tressler, Valparaiso; third place - "Salvia: Still Legal, But Is It Safe?" by Jennifer Evan, Valparaiso.
  • Poetry: first place - "Demeter" by Dave Hunt, Porter; second place - "Pee-ome for My Mother" by Elyse Winter, LaPorte; third place - "Ten Years" by Amanda Elzbieciak, LaPorte,.
  • Short Fiction: first place - "Time Away from Home" by Dave Hunt, Porter; second place - "Second Life" by Jessica Baldwin, Chesterton; third place - "The Wolf and the Hawk" by Adam Diaz, Valparaiso.
  • The John J. Pappas Literary Award: first place - "Persuasion: The Correlation Between Character and Appearance" by Heather Alicia Bell, La Porte; second place - "Social Isolation Leads to Murder in Glaspell's Trifles" by Sarah Lasser, Valparaiso; third place - "A Forbidden Love on Brokeback Mountain" by Nichole Y. Murphy, Valparaiso and third place - "Privacy Issues in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window" by Sharon L. Glaze, North Judson.
  • Art: first place - Brittany Foltz, Michigan City. .