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Six writers receive annual Braun Award, three given Tyner Prize at University reception in Emeriti Room
April 17, 2006 —
The ninth annual writing awards reception was held Tuesday, where six students received the Braun Award and three the Tyner Prize, both recognizing excellence in writing at SVSU.
The award winners were given the opportunity to read a section of their work to a mix of family, friends, faculty, and a small number of others among much applause and recognition.
"How to get writers recognized and how to motivate students to become good writers was why the Braun Awards were first created," said Diane Boehm, director of the University Writing Program.
The Braun Award recognizes exceptional writing in nine different categories at SVSU. Awards in the amount of $200 are given along with a print publication for local distribution and an online publication linked from the Writing Programs Web site.
They were placed alongside the Tyner awards, which recognize the literary aspect of writing, whereas the Braun recognize the different colleges.
The Tyner Prizes are presented annually in three categories - fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. Judges decide whether submitted work meets the standards for the Tyner awards.
The College of Science, Engineering and Technology Braun Award recipient was Chris Hopper, who graduated this past winter and was not able to be at the reception. His excerpt from his senior research project, "Working Toward a Magneto-Optical Trap," was read by his faculty nominator, Minh-Tie Huang, who conveyed his "passion" for physics.
From the College of Business and Management, Russel Whelton received the award for his work "Effects of Excessive CEO Pay on Society." His basis was that a higher CEO wage leads to resentment among workers, and poor worker morale. Deb Bishop was his faculty nominator.
The College of Education's winner was Brei Noble. She presented a teaching unit, titled "WWII: A Thematic Unit," and explained how she approached teaching World War II. Her faculty nominator was Deborah Smith.
Dana Dryer of the Crystal M. Lange College of Nursing and Health Sciences was awarded for her paper, "The Phenomenon of Powerlessness in the Elderly," based on her personal work experience along with an Emily Dickinson poem and how powerlessness leads to giving up. Mary Graiver gave her the nomination along with an honorable mention given to Sarah Willard for "Living with Depression."
Kayleen Schumacher was awarded in the General Education category for "Speaking English: A Geographical Analysis of Dialect Distribution in Massachusetts," which detailed how the Connecticut River splits Massachusetts linguistics and really separates New England from the beginning of the Midwest. Fred Sunderman was her nominator.
From the College of Arts and Behavioral Sciences, Swenja Granzow was awarded for her piece, "Finding Peace through Painting War: American and Vietnamese Art Depicting the Vietnam War," which examines the different kinds of art that came about in that time period and what it sparked. Her nominator was Erik Trump.
For the first of the three Tyner Prizes, the fiction award went to Jason Wolverton for his collection of short stories, "The Euloger." He read one of his short stories, "The Naked Man." Vince Samarco nominated him.
In the poetry category, Amanda Conner was awarded for "The Purple Room and Other Spaces." While she introduced herself, she also introduced her reader, student Amee Schmidt, who read for her one of her poems out of the collection. She also had dual nominators, Judy Kerman and Melissa Seitz.
In the final presentation, Jason Schneider received the non-fiction award for "Persuading and Misleading: The Importance of the Author in Dickinson" and said he was probably the most surprised that he had won. Elizabeth Rich nominated him.
Boehm, who doubles as director of the Writing Center, also pointed out that of the winners, Noble, Granzow, and Wolverton are tutors at the Writing Center.
"That's a first," she said.