The UWC is proud to announce the winners of our 2013 Undergraduate Writing and Video Contests. Ashley Simmons wins the essay contest for “To Reconcile: Film, Trauma, and the First World War, ” and Trent Tate wins in video for “Boyd Education Foundation.”
UWC Executive Director Valerie Balester presents a certificate to junior Ashley Simmons, winner of the UWC’s 2013 Writing Contest for her analysis of two films depicting World War I.
Honorable Mentions for writing:
Eric Allen for “The Gundam Saga: Genre Analysis”
Matthew Brown for “Occupy Wall Street: The Forerunner of Marx’ Prophecy”
Jennifer DeLuca for “Environment and Food Microbiology Report”
Josh Lyles for “The Continual Prevalence of Segregation: The Crossroads of Social Discrimination and the White Legal Bias”
Honorable Mentions for video:
Brandon Vento for “Castiglion Fiorentino—Fall 2011”
John Anthony Sablan “’Rest of My Life’ (Soldier Tribute)”
This is the second year the UWC has sponsored undergraduate competitions in writing and video, and this time both winners are engineering majors. Ashley Simmons, winner of the writing competition, is a mechanical engineering major with an English minor. Her work focused on the role of trauma in two films depicting the effects of World War I. You can read the winning essay here.
Trent Tate, creator of the winning video, is a freshman majoring in Engineering Technology. Tate created his winning video to encourage donations to the Boyd Education Foundation, which raises money for schools in his hometown of Boyd, TX. You can see the winning video here.
The winners were selected by the faculty members of the W and C Course Committee; each winner received a $100 gift card for Half Price Books.
Trent Tate won the Video Division for the 2013 UWC Contest with a film he made to raise money for the schools in his hometown of Boyd, TX.
The judges decided to award honorable mentions in both contests because they had so many high quality submissions. Works awarded honorable mention ranged from a microbiology lab report to a video depicting a dance choreographed by the film maker.
“Once again, we were impressed with the breadth of topics submitted to the contest,” said UWC Executive Director Valerie Balester. “We received everything from short stories to discussions of mathematical modeling. It’s encouraging to see Aggies producing quality work in so many disciplines. We were also pleased to see more students (and instructors) using video as a medium for both academic inquiry and creative expression.”
Our thanks to all the students who submitted their work, as well as the instructors who taught and advised them. We’d also like to acknowledge the members of the W and C Course Committee for their ongoing support of the contest.