The 9th annual Knights Write Showcase, a celebration of first and second-year student writing, was held at the Pegasus Ballroom on February 11, 2019. Hosted by the Department of Writing & Rhetoric, the annual Knights Write Showcase demonstrates how writing and communication is important in every field, with the winners and panelists hailing from a variety of majors.
What do the winners have in common? Strong writing skills that they honed in either ENC 1101 or ENC 1102, UCF’s first and second-year General Education English composition courses. The students were recognized for their writing and poster displays, with some getting the chance to talk about their work in faculty-moderated student panels.
This year’s showcase had two student panels: “Culture and Communities of Writing” and “Finding the Story: Student Perspectives on Writing and Research.” The panels had students discuss topics such as LGBTQ+ media, model rocketry at UCF, iPhone journaling and culturally diverse literacy. Students in UCF’s General Education composition courses are encouraged to write about topics that interest them, which leads to the wide range of subjects covered in these panels.
Along with student panels, the showcase puts on an awards ceremony to recognize the best poster displays and the essays published in Stylus: A Journal of First-Year Writing. Published biannually by the Department of First-Year Writing, Stylus accepts essays from students who took either ENC 1101 or ENC 1102. Each issue features only 5 to 7 submissions, usually selected from a pool of around 60. This year, Provost Elizabeth Dooley continued former UCF president John C. Hitt’s tradition of awarding three students published in Stylus with the President John C. Hitt Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing. Congratulations to the winners below!
President John C. Hitt Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing
- Winner: Chad Jones for “The Becoming of an Outsider: A Story of How the Molded Clay Was Shaped”
- First Runner Up: Ryan Johnson for “LGBT+ Media: What Went Wrong”
- Second Runner Up: Julie Wan for “Chinks in My Armor: Reclaiming One’s Voice”
Poster Display Awards
- Winner: Esther Reyes for “Maybe I’m Just Tired: Unhealthy Sleeping Habits of College Students and How it Can Result in Anxiety and Depression”
- First Runner Up: Jordan Farrow for “Writing Justice Back into the Criminal Justice System”
- Faye Marcus for “Love at a Distance: Predictors of Relationship Satisfaction”
