About
This is an annual writing competition for the best academic paper by a student currently enrolled as freshman or sophomore. Student does not have to be an English major, but the paper should have been written for an English class. The award for first place is for $1,200 and the award for second place is for $750. Applications are typically due in March and the decision announced in April.
How to apply
Send your materials in pdf format to ll55@rice.edu with "(current year) Lady Geddes Essay Writing Submission" in the subject line of the email. All essay submissions should be anonymous, so student names should not appear anywhere in the essay. The body of the email should include your name, email address, and essay title (which should match the title of your pdf submission).
Previous recipients
| 2018 | Â | Â | Â |
|---|---|---|---|
|  | 1st | Hania Ilahi Nagy | “Comfort, Sleep, and Space in Vermeer's A Woman Asleep" |
| Â | 2nd | Emma Gordon | "Stones and Snails: From Objects to Art" |
| 2017 | Â | Â | Â |
| Â | 1st | Elizabeth Rasich | "The Self-Made Man" |
| Â | 2nd | Shannon Klein | "Ecophobia and Dread in 'The Fall of the House of Usher'" |
| 2016 | Â | Â | Â |
| Â | 1st | Sonia Hamer | "How Cold an Arcadia" |
| Â | 2nd | Zhizhen Rao | "The Paradoxical Utopian City" |
| 2015 | Â | Â | Â |
| Â | 1st | Reagan Kapp |
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| Â | 2nd | Asena Alay |
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| 2014 | Â | Â | Â |
| Â | 1st | Magen Eissenstat | "Readers as Cultural Writers: Narrative Conventions and the Work of Suniti Namjoshi" |
| Â | 2nd | Zichao Wang | "My Mother is a Fish" |
| 2013 | Â | Â | Â |
| Â | 1st | Molly Jones | "A Stanley Kowalski Named Desire: The Powerhouse Performances in 'A Streetcar Named Desire'" |
| Â | 2nd | Doha Aboul-Fotouh | "Writing About Writing and Reading About Reading" |
| 2012 | Â | Â | Â |
| Â | 1st | Jay Becton | "Interpretive Struggles and Donny Kerabatsos" |
|  | 2nd | Susannah Eig         | "From Hal to Henry: Our Humanly Harry" |
| 2011 | Â | Â | Â |
| Â | 1st | Matt Vale | "A Lover's Discourse, Continued" |
|  | 2nd | Jay Becton             | "Intentionality in The Homecoming" |
| 2010 | Â | Â | Â |
|  | 1st | Neil Vanlandingham     | "The Guilt in The Law, The Violence in Order" |
|  | 2nd | Mary Allen         | "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Making Your Story Heard" |
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