Wellesley students are invited to compete for the Kathryn Wasserman Davis ‘28 Art Prize for Writing by submitting a paper about any object or event associated with the Davis Museum. Topics may include:

• Objects from the permanent collections or exhibited during temporary exhibitions
• Any aspect of Museum programming
• The Davis Museum itself

Papers will be judged by a panel of faculty and staff members representing the Davis Museum, the Art Department, and the Writing Program. The panel will award $300 for the winning paper, and the name of the prizewinner will be announced at Commencement.

Eligibility:

• This competition is open to all Wellesley College students.
• Papers written during the Spring 20, Fall 20, and Spring 21 semesters, including those written for independent studies, are eligible.
• Each student may submit only one paper.
• Honors theses are not eligible. A paper being submitted for another prize (e.g. sponsored by a department) is also ineligible.

How to Enter:

Entries must include the paper and a cover letter that contains your name, class year, and campus address; the name of the professor and course for which you wrote the paper; and a brief description of the assignment and the date the paper was submitted. Send submissions as e-mail attachments to davis-art-writing-prize@wellesley.edu by April 4th.

Questions? Email Heather Hughes, the Kemper Assistant Curator of Academic Affairs and Exhibitions at the Davis Museum at davis-art-writing-prize@wellesley.edu. For resources to improve your writing, including tips for submitting a prizewinning paper, we encourage you to visit the Writing Program website.

Prize Recipients:

2021: Annabel Brazaitis ’22, “Portraits, Pieces: The American ’90s and the Queer Collage,” for ENG 286: New Literatures: The Gay 1990s and Beyond, Octavio González (English).
Object: Nicole Eisenman, Happy Thoughts (Self-Portrait), 1996, Ink and collage on paper, Gift of Martina Schaap Yamin (Class of 1958) 2009.414

2020: Stephanie Fan ’22, “Connecting Tradition and Modernity: Yang Yongliang’s Artificial Wonderland II,” for ARTH 100: The Power of Images: Introduction to Art and its Histories, Margaret Carroll (Art)
Object: Yang Yongliang, Artificial Wonderland II—Travelers Among Mountains and Streams, 2014, Giclée print, AP 1/2, Museum purchase with funds given through the generosity of Linda Wyatt Gruber (Class of 1966) 2019.39