The Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing

Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing

About the Prize

A prize of $125, generously endowed by the Three Generations Fund, is awarded each semester to honor writing excellence in First-Year Writing (FYW) courses. This prize recognizes Wellesley’s commitment to fine writing in all areas of study. Students may self-nominate a paper completed in their First-Year Writing Course. Prizes are judged by faculty members who teach First-Year Writing. 

Guidelines for Submission

Winning papers feature: sufficient context for and full development of a sophisticated argument that is well-supported by evidence; argumentation and analysis that is accurate and appropriate to the discipline; a voice that is authoritative and natural; writing choices that demonstrate consideration for the reader; and excellent presentation of source material, data, and other evidence.

  • The deadline for the Fall 2023 prize is Monday, January 8, 2024.

  • Students may nominate themselves for this prize by completing the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing nomination form.

  • Students must notify their professors of their self-nomination for the prize.

  • Nominations should include a paper that demonstrates excellence in first-year writing; the associated assignment prompt, and a short blurb (50-100 words) introducing the paper and explaining what makes it exemplary. 

Winners of the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing

KP
Kaya Perce, '26
Spring 2023 Winner

“Contained Bodies: Social Control in the Space of the Public Pool”

WRIT 160 - The Magic of Everyday Life: Stories About Our Culture, Justin Armstrong

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2023 booklet

CS
Cami Sarros, '26
Spring 2023 Runner-Up

“The Unconstitutionality of Expedited Removals with Regard to Due Process”

WRIT 134 - A Nation of Immigrants? American Migration Myths and the Politics of Exclusion, Erin Battat

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2023 booklet

PZB
Phoebe Zilliax Blodget, '26
Fall 2022 Winner

"Love and Memory: Critical Reception and Evaluation of Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell" 

WRIT 185 Making it Real in the Documentary Film, Lisa Rodensky

 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2022 booklet

LL
Lian Liu, '25
Spring 2022 Co-Winner

"The Departure"

WRIT 107 ARTH 100 The Power of Images: Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2022 booklet

HC
Hannah Chiou, '25
Spring 2022 Co-Winner

"The Persistence of Bad Blood: Responsibility and Guilt in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study"

WRIT 136 Staging Science, Anne Brubaker

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2022 booklet

SS
Sally Song, '25
Fall 2021 Winner

"Edie Fake's The Stick It Inn: Celebrating Queer Spaces with Architectural Art"

WRIT 127 Writing for Change: Protest Literature in America, Erin Battat

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2021 booklet

GT
Guilia Trevellin, '24
Spring 2021 Winner

"Legal Immigration in the United States: Tackling the Debate on Employment-Based and Family-Based Immigration"

WRIT 134 A Nation of Immigrants? American Migration Myths and the Politics of Exclusion, Erin Battat 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2021 booklet

AVB
Adeline Van Buskirk, '24
Fall 2020 Winner

"'Virtually Nobody': Protecting Older Adults in the COVID Era"

WRIT 144 What’s in A Name? Investigating What We Call People, Places, and Things, Jeannine Johnson

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2020 booklet

VH
Victoria Ho, '24
Honorable Mention Fall 2020

"The Political and Social Implications of François Boucher’s Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (1750)"

WRIT 107 ARTH 100 The Power of Images: Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2020 booklet

SA
Sophia Angus, '23
Spring 2020 Co-Winner

"Imagining Storm in the Mountains"

WRIT 107 ARTH 100 The Power of Images: Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2020 booklet

EL
Emily Lu, '23
Co-Winner Spring 2020

"Reflections on Grief, Remembrance, and Race in Yusef Komunyakaa's 'Facing It'"

WRIT 144 What's in A Name? Investigating What We Call People, Places, and Things, Jeannine Johnson

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2020 booklet

JG
Jules Gabellini, '23
Fall 2019 Co-Winner

"The Intersections of Domesticity and Globalization in Vermeer's Young Woman with a Water Pitcher (1662)"
WRIT 107 / ARTH 100 The Power of Images: Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynne-Davis

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2019 booklet

AS
Andreea Sabau, '23
Fall 2019 Co-Winner

"Surrender is Sweet (Never)"
WRIT 120 Critical Interpretation, Sarah Wall-Randell 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2019 booklet

MP
Mable Peach, '23
Fall 2019 Honorable Mention

"Selling vs Truth-Telling: An Analysis of Two Self-Portraits"  

WRIT 107/ARTH 100 The Power of Images: An Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2019 booklet

TB
Tatia Bolkvadze, '22
Spring 2019 Co-Winner

"The Suicide of Dorothy Hale: A Recuerdo, a Criticism and Frida's Self Search"
WRIT 107 / ARTH 100 The Power of Images: Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2019 booklet

MM
Michelle Mantilla, '22
Spring 2019 Co-Winner

"A Desert of Dreams"
WRIT 107 / ARTH 100 The Power of Images: Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2019 booklet

NO
Natalie O'Hern, '22
Fall 2018 Winner

"The Oxymoron of Edward Abbey"

WRIT 162 Environmental Law: Policy and Action, Lynne Viti

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2018 booklet

MM
Morgan Mastrianni, '21
Spring 2018 Winner

"Read Like Water"

WRIT 107 / ARTH 100 The Power of Images: Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2018 booklet

MB
Mona Baloch, '21
Spring 2018 Honorable Mention

"Speak with Caution: The Vilification of Language for Muslim Air Travelers in America"

WRIT 134 A Nation of Immigrants? American Migration Myths and the Politics of Exclusion, Erin Battat 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2018 booklet

TM
Tatiana Moise, '21
Spring 2018 Honorable Mention

"Snap Out of it: The Implicit Bias Behind Snapchat Filters"

WRIT 155 The Selfie in American Life, Heather Bryant 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2018 booklet

CA
Cristina Anillo, '21
Fall 2017 Co-Winner

"The Painter of Human Misery: Love and Suffering in Pablo Picasso's Mother and Child"

WRIT 107 / ARTH 100 Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2017 booklet

MSCH
María Sophia Carrillo Hernández, '21
Fall 2017 Co-Winner

"Open Doors"

WRIT 121 Almost Touching the Skies: Coming of Age in the 21st Century, Heather Bryant 

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2017 booklet

SN
Simone Nevills, '21
Fall 2017 Co-Winner

"The Measles Crisis in America: Identifying Problems and Solutions"

WRIT 177 Live and Learn: Understanding Mind-Body Connections, Jeannine Johnson and Connie Bauman

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2017 booklet

KF
Kyra Frye, '20
Spring 2017 Winner

"Magic, Myth, and Mystery: The Puzzle of Samuel Anointing Saul"

WRIT 107 / ARTH 100 History and Analysis of Art, Architecture, and Urban Form I, Barbara Lynn-Davis

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2017 booklet

AS
Anya Sheldon, '20
Spring 2017 Honorable Mention

"Handlettering During the Golden Age of the Rock Poster: Influences, Purpose, and Legacy"

WRIT 115 / ARTS 115 Word and Image Studio, Katherine Ruffin

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2017 booklet

MA
Meha Ahluwalia, '20
Fall 2016 Winner

"Neuroscience: An Unsuitable Punisher"

WRIT 166 Constitution 3.0: Freedom, Technology and the Law, Lynne Viti

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2016 booklet

AP
Audrey Powers, '20
Fall 2016 Honorable Mention

"Grief's Journey in Tennyson's In Memoriam"

WRIT 105 / ENG 120 Critical Interpretation, Tim Peltason

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2016 booklet

KH
Katherine Hobart, '20
Fall 2016 Honorable Mention

"Ode to a Grand Staircase (For Four Hands)"

WRIT 107 / ARTH 100 Introduction to Art and its Histories, Barbara Lynn-Davis

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2016 booklet

EM
Emily Moss, '19
Spring 2016 Co-Winner

"Abstracting Realism: Dreams of a New City in Whistler's Nocturne in Blue and Silver"

WRIT 108 / ARTH 101 History and Analysis of Art, Architecture, and Urban Form II, Barbara Lynn-Davis

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2016 booklet

CG
Caroline George, '19
Spring 2016 Co-Winner

"The Reality of Fiction"

WRIT 139 The Story and Its Writer, Michele Martinez

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2016 booklet

HA
Helen Andersen '19
Spring 2016 Co-Winner

"Building the House of Cards: The Role of the Internet in the Growth of the Asexual Community"

WRIT 155  The Selfie in American Life, Heather Bryant

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Spring 2016 booklet

HH
Hannah Hicks, '19
Fall 2015 Winner

"The Changing Element: Beauty and Transition in Jane Austen's Persuasion"

WRIT 105 / ENG 120 Critical Interpretation, Sarah Wall-Randell

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2015 booklet

MW
Madeline Wood, '19
Fall 2015 Runner-Up

"The Great Escape: Finding an Ambiguous and Unique Identity in a Binary World"

WRIT 158 Bestsellers after the Boom, Eileen O'Connor

Read this essay in the Three Generations Prize for First-Year Writing Fall 2015 booklet