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Rules subject to update

Eligibility

If you're an undergraduate enrolled at the University of Michigan—Dearborn for at least six hours during the Summer 2024, Fall 2024, or Winter 2025 semesters, you’re eligible to enter the Writing Contest.

You may submit work in up to three categories but only one entry per category. You may not submit the same entry in multiple categories. Winning a first-place award in a category makes you ineligible to enter that category in subsequent years.

All entries must be your original work; for collaboratively-created projects, include the names of all authors/creators and detail the contributions of each individual on the entry form.

Entries may not have been previously published (except in student publications).

Final submission deadline is Friday, May 9, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Winners will be posted by June 20, 2025.

Awards will be reviewed and approved by the University of Michigan-Dearborn. In the case of debts owed to the University, awards will be applied to outstanding balances.

Award winners in the Bill Linn Fiction Category agree to have their work shared privately with the Bill Linn family.

Categories

Poetry: May be of any length. Up to 3 poems as a single entry

Bill Linn Fiction Prize: Up to 30 double-spaced pages; one story per entrant

Creative Non-fiction: Up to 30 double-spaced pages; one essay per entrant

Honors Writing: Writing completed for any Honors course, including COMP 110 & 220

First-year Writing: Writing completed in COMP 105, 106, 227, 270 & 280

Researched Writing: e.g., the critical essay or other researched writing making use of secondary and/or primary sources; up to 30 double-spaced pages

Writing Through Image and Sound: E.g., Web-based writing, digital films with scripts, music and scores, projects that incorporate both text, sound, and/or visual elements

Writing in the Public Sphere: Writing completed in Academic Service-Learning courses, service learning or community-based writing projects, projects related to advocacy or activism, writing about current events

Scientific / Technical Writing: Writing completed in COMP 270, researched projects and/or investigative reports in engineering and natural sciences

Manuscript Format

To ensure objectivity, you must invent a Pen Name. A pen name is a fictitious name that is not your legal name. Your legal name can only appear on the entry form. Neither the judges nor the administrators of the contest will know your identity until the winners have been determined. Type your pen name only on every page of your manuscript.

Each written manuscript must be typed, double-spaced, and uploaded using the online submission system. Label your file with the title only (or titles, for poetry) of your manuscript, ex. Tom's Left Foot.doc. 

For multiple media projects that include sound/pictures and/or video that exceed data uploading restrictions, submit a link to your work online via Word document and follow the regular submission process.

Submit your work using our online .

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 51��Ƶ-Dearborn Writing Awards

Special thanks to our 51��Ƶ-Dearborn judging panel and external judges:

Warren Anderson, Amy Brainer, Jerrice Donelson, Jon Haller, Kristin Bartley Lenz, Reb Livingston, Tony Luckett, Kyhl Lydndgaard, Anna Muller, PF Potvin,  Alicia Schaeffer, John Taylor

Researched Writing 

1. Antonina Dreist, “Analyzing the Court-Public Relationship”
2. Zac Redfield, “Making Learners: Scrutinizing My Literacy Development Within the Gifted-Remedial Binary” 
3. Lydia Fleming, “Personality and Prejudice: A Focus on Racism and Anti-Fat Attitudes”

Honorable Mention

• Natalie Albrecht, “Pandemic as a Portal?”: COVID, Agency, & the Carceral System” 
• Fallon McCue, “Violence as a Revolutionary Script:  Comparing the 1641 and 1798 Irish Rebellions” 

Science/Technical Writing

1. Dakota Drew, Narjes Jaber, Mackenzie Innes, “Khan Academy Social Media Recommendation” 
2. Andrew Schwartz, “How to Hack Your Neighbor’s Wifi”
3. Amber Ploch, “The Brown-Peterson Task” 

Honorable Mention

• Sara Stoloff, "Remedy or Ruin Game Design"
• Sena Alenzi,"Applications of Nanovectors on the Development of Microfluidic-Based Biodevices"

Writing in the Public Sphere

1. Rehab Jadallah, “Accessibility Concerns in XR Technology"
2. Manuella Barbosa Braga, “Women in Diplomacy: The Journey Towards Gender Parity in the Foreign Service” 
3. Mary Bradshaw, “Perspectives in Particulate Matter Pollution Policy” 

Honorable Mention

• Cat Langosch, “Policies to Address Police Excessive Use of Force”
• Amber Ploch, “Middle Moments” 

First-Year Writing

1. Emily Gonzalez, “LAIKA Studios’ Coraline(2009) as a Cautionary Tale:  The Use of Fear to Spread Awareness” 

*tie for 2nd place

2. Miles Wright, “Queer”  

2. Ailen Estrada, “Is AI the Bad Guy?”

Honorable Mention

• Alyssa Howard, “Standing for Change”
• Nila Hooper, “Shining Through the Struggle”

Honors

1. Manuella Barbosa Braga, “Jair Bolsonaro:  A Threat to Brazilian Democracy” 
2. Alisha Syed, “To Be Indian or To Not Be Indian:  Assimilation in Canton, Michigan” 
3. Muneer Elshaikh, “Compassion:  Powerful But Not Omnipotent” 

Honorable Mention

• Manolia Abbas, “Stanley Cups, Girlhood, & The Pursuit of Happiness:  How Consumerism Fabricates a Hegemonic American Community” 
• Amy Nkrumah, “The Ethical Implications involved in the Photographic Narration of Human Catastrophes”

Writing Through Image & Sound

1. Mirvat Chammout, “The Iron Cowgirl” 
2. Olivia Carzon, Lilly Samulski, “Diving Intu Tea in the Eastern Market”
3. Nathalie Barajas,“I am Nathalie“ 

Honorable Mention

• Eleanor Raygorodsky “End of Love”

Bill Linn Fiction Prize

1. Amanda Hix, “Peppermints for Two”
2. Manolia Abbas, “Tonight I Spoke with Winter” 
3. Michelle Rose Becker, “Bottled Up” 

Honorable Mention

• Noah Alvarado, “The Butterfly”
• Ahmad Majed, “Enraal”

Poetry

1. Randa Khanafer, “Dulce Et Decorum Est”
2. Madison Chervenak, “Reincarnation”
3. Lauren Maclean, “The Man”

Honorable Mention

• Kyle Begeman, "Sentiments"
• Ishita Desai, "Doll"

Creative Non-Fiction

1. Zac Redfield, “Counting the Distances Between Us”
2. Rawan Salem, “Bildungsroman” 
3. Elizabeth Schmidt, “Hearing the Silent Symptoms”

Honorable Mention

• Abby Fleming, “No Views of the River”
• Asil Khanafer, “The Great Camel Invasion of Dubai”