English department celebrates 2024-25 student award winners
Thirty-seven undergraduate and graduate students earned awards in 28 categories
Article by Ellie Johnson; all photographs by Kendall Cooper
Department of English faculty, students, staff, and friends gathered April 11 in Dodd Hall Auditorium for the annual English Awards Ceremony to celebrate undergraduate and graduate students for their scholarly work, creativity, and teaching throughout the 2024-25 academic year.
Associate Professor Christina Parker-Flynn served as the chair of the Awards Committee this year and played an important role in the selection of the winners.
“As a committee, we make sure that the final assessments are justly calibrated,” she says. “When the winners are finalized, I contact them with the good news. That certainly is the best part of the job.”
The other committee members were Professors Jamie Fumo, Chris Okonkwo, Diane Roberts, and Elizabeth Stuckey-French.
Parker-Flynn began the ceremony with opening remarks, and she then introduced Caldwell Professor of English Andrew Epstein, who is also chair of the English department. He spoke about this ceremony being one of his favorite events of the year, and both he and Parker-Flynn said they were excited to honor to this year’s winners, who were chosen from an impressive list of applicants.
The awards portion of the afternoon began with those won by undergraduate students. This year, the English department recognized 21 students for 14 awards, a few with runners-up or co-winners.
English-Literature, Media, and Culture major Luciana Callegari earned the John Mackay Shaw Academy of American Poets Award.
“I submitted portfolios with about five columns of mine each,” Callegari shared when talking about her award-winning work. “They mostly speak on my cultural upbringing and identity.”
Callegari was raised in Miami, which she said was essential to the poetry collection she submitted.
“A lot of my poems in the portfolio are very focused on setting,” Callegari said. “I rely a lot on the imagery of the places in the poems.”
Callegari was surprised to win, even turning to speak about her uncertainty with Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English David Kirby, who assured her that she deserved to win.
“This is something that many poets who win awards battle with, so that was very comforting,” Callegari expressed.
In addition to the poetry award, Callegari was also recognized as the second runner up for the Cody Harris Allen Award. This year’s winner was Ella Windlan; click here to read Ellie Johnson's profile of Windlan and her academic accomplishments.
Following English Professor Diane Roberts’ tribute to FSU alumna Mart Pierson Hill, who graduated with her English degree in 1942 from the Florida State College for Women, four students were awarded the Mart P. Hill Award for Outstanding English Honors Thesis.
One of the winners was senior English-Creative Writing major Jaynie Curzi for her thesis, “The Power of Stories Reimagining Creative Literature for a Humane World.”
“I always thought there was a lot of merit to studying creative writing as an academic pursuit, so completing this project was really important to me,” Curzi said following the ceremony, adding that she has always loved storytelling.
For her thesis, Curzi researched three texts that focused on human rights crises, then incorporated creative writing mechanisms into her own work. In the fall of 2025, Curzi will begin law school at UCLA, which has a highly acclaimed human rights program.
“I’m looking forward to bridging those two interests—creative writing and human rights—and being able to cultivate my passions into the study of entertainment law and protecting artists,” Curzi added.
In addition to undergraduates, graduate students were also recognized for their achievements: four awards for excellence in creative writing, 
critical writing, and outstanding literature dissertations; four for exceptional teaching; and five for fellowships or endowed funds.
Christell Roach, a doctoral student in English Literature and Creative Writing, won the Adam M. Johnson Endowed Fund for Excellence.
“This reminds me that all my learning, all this brainstorming, all this getting lost in my research, that I am doing something, and other people see it,” said Roach, who was a 2022-2024 Wallace Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford University.
“Many times, when I am in the research and writing process, I wonder if I know what I'm doing,” Roach shared when talking about what winning means to her. “So, this award reminds me that other people are cheering me on.”
Roach is currently working on her first book of poetry, Bluesing.
Sarah Destin, a doctoral candidate in English-Creative Writing, was a co-winner of the Edward H. and Marie C. Kingsbury Fellowship.
“I’m very excited to win, honored to be chosen among so many really outstanding writers in the department,” Destin shared. “This fellowship is going to be really helpful, especially thinking about where I'm going to want to take my book moving forward.”
Destin said she appreciates the support she has received from department faculty members, which led to her earning the award, adding that she feels lucky to be a part of the department’s supportive community.
“The biggest part has been being able to work with my committee, Mark Winegardner, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, and Ravi Howard,” she said.
River Selby, a a doctoral candidate in English-Creative Writing-Nonfiction, also earned the Edward H. and Marie C. Kingsbury Fellowship.
The final award of the ceremony was for Olivia Sokolowski, who recently earned her doctoral degree in English-Creative Writing. She was named winner of the Bertram and Ruth Davis Award for Outstanding Career as a Graduate Student.
Following the awards portion of the ceremony, attendees celebrated their accomplishments and mingled in the Dodd Hall lobby over refreshments.
Ellie Johnson is a double major in English-Editing, Writing, and Media and in psychology.
Kendall Cooper is an English-Editing, Writing, and Media alumna and a junior media specialist/graduate assistant with FSU's College of Arts & Sciences.
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The English department congratulates these winners; see more photographs following the list of winners:
UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS
Cody Harris Allen Award
Luciana Callegari (2nd runner up); Adam Kesler (1st runner up); Ella Windlan (winner)
Sassaman Critical Writing Award
Lila Rush
Sassaman Creative Writing Award
Jesse Winter
Steven D. Schloff Creative Writing Award for Fiction
Cherith King
Steven D. Schloff Creative Writing Award for Non-Fiction
Sunrya Peace-Friedman
Steven D. Schloff Creative Writing Award for Poetry
Isabelle Hoofnagle
George and Ruth Yost Award for Best Personal Essay Award
Molly Stinson
John Mackay Shaw Academy of American Poets Award
Luciana Callegari
Robert Adler Endowed Memorial Fellowship
Nicole Bohlmann
Gerald Ensley Emerging Journalist Award
Annika VanDerlip
James McCrimmon Award for Outstanding Writing in College Composition
Natalie M. Lopez (honorable mention); Ava L. Jones (winner)
John and Susan Ausley Scholarship
Kaysyn Jones (co-winner); Madelyn Luther (co-winner)
Fred L. Standley Award for Undergraduate Excellence
Alessa Cardelli
Mart P. Hill Award for Outstanding English Honors Thesis
Jaynie Curzi; Sean Faletti; Kellan Kissinger; Lila Rush
GRADUATE AWARDS
Marian Bashinski Award for Excellence in Teaching First-year Composition
Charlotte Alcon
Bryan Hall Award for Excellence in Teaching First-year Composition
Sarah Bliss
Robert O. Lawton Award for Excellence in Teaching First-year Composition
Caroline Laganas
Fred L. Standley Graduate Assistant Teaching Award
Amanda Ayers
Sassaman Award for Outstanding Critical Writing
Caroline Hampshire
Sassaman Award for Outstanding Creative Writing
Jamie Walters
Robert Adler Endowed Memorial Fellowship Award
Laura Biagi
Waters Fund for Excellence in Literature Award
Sriya Chakraborty
John Mackay Shaw Academy of American Poets Award
Qiang Meng
Adam M. Johnson Endowed Fund for Excellence
Christell Roach
J. Russell Reaver Award for Outstanding Dissertation in American Literature
Daniel Raschke
Edward H. and Marie C. Kingsbury Fellowship
Sarah Destin (co-winner); River Selby (co-winner)
Bertram and Ruth Davis Award for Outstanding Dissertation in English Literature, Criticism, Linguistics or Rhetoric
Brandi Burns (co-winner); Hannah Betz (co-winner)
Bertram and Ruth Davis Award for Outstanding Career as a Graduate Student
Olivia Sokolowski
Left: Associate Professor Alisha Gaines and John and Susan Ausley Undergraduate Scholarship winner Kaysyn Jones; Right: Professor Robin Goodman and Mart P. Hill Undergraduate Award for Outstanding English Honors Thesis winner Lila Rush
Left: Assistant Professor Trinyan Mariano and Cody Harris Allen Undergraduate Award winner Ella Windlan; Right: Professor Mark Winegardner and Sassaman Graduate Award for Outstanding Creative Writing winner Jamie Walters
Associate Professor Meegan Kennedy with (left) Marian Bashinski Graduate Award for Excellence in Teaching First-year Composition winner Charlotte Alcon, and (right) Sassaman Graduate Award for Outstanding Critical Writing winner Caroline Hampshire
Left: Professor Andrew Epstein with Waters Fund for Excellence in Literature Graduate Award winner Sriya Chakraborty; Right: Professor David Kirby with John Mackay Shaw Academy of American Poets Graduate Award winner Qiang Meng
Left: Assistant Professor Ravi Howard with Edward H. and Marie C. Kingsbury Fellowship co-winner River Selby; Right: Associate Professor Meegan Kennedy with Bertram and Ruth Davis Award for Outstanding Dissertation in English Literature, Criticism, Linguistics or Rhetoric co-winner Brandi Burns
Left: Associate Professor Michael Neal with Bertram and Ruth Davis Award for Outstanding Dissertation in English Literature, Criticism, Linguistics or Rhetoric co-winner Hannah Betz; Right: Bertram and Ruth Davis Award for Outstanding Career as a Graduate Student winner Olivia Sokolowski
Olivia Sokolowski with Senior Lecturer Barbara Hamby