Competitions, Prizes, and Activities

Undergraduate Program
Each year a number of our students are initiated into the Alpha of Hawaii Chapter of the most prestigious academic honor society in the nation, Phi Beta Kappa. Qualified English majors and minors are also asked to join the Mortar Board, Golden Key, and Phi Kappa Phi honorary societies.

Creative Writing
Each year the Creative Writing Program administers an Awards and Scholarship Program consisting of:

The Academy of American Poets Prize is awarded yearly to a student poet following a university-wide competition; winners receive $100 and the opportunity to be included in a nationally distributed anthology of prize poems. Usually a distinguished poet outside our own regular faculty is asked to judge.

The Myrle Clark Awards each year are by vote of the entire creative writing committee, on nominations from faculty; the awards are to encourage student writers in the categories of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. It is expected that in each category there will be both regular Clark Awards and one or two Clark Awards With Distinction. Both awards include cash prizes.

The Harriet Goldsberry Memorial Award offers an all-expenses-paid trip to the Maui Writers Conference. Entrants must be fiction writers who are matriculated UH students who have enrolled in UH creative writing courses. Judged by Creative Writing faculty and others.

The Ernest Hemingway Awards are given to the most outstanding undergraduate writer of the year in poetry and the most outstanding of the year in fiction; the cash prizes may range as high as $500 or more. They are nominated by individual Creative Writing faculty and voted on by the entire creative writing committee.

The Patsy S. Saiki Award is given for the best short story on a theme related to Hawai‘i by a UH student born in Hawai‘i, any level (undergraduate as well as graduate), any UH campus. The prize for the winning story is $1000; second and third place winners receive $250 and $100, respectively. Each year the Director of Creative Writing selects three judges for the competition.

The Stephen C. Stryker and William H. Stryker Prize for Creative Writing for the best short story written by a student enrolled at UHM. A cash prize is awarded to the winner.

The deadlines for nominations or entries to competitions range from March to June. Watch the Creative Writing Program bulletin board on the fourth floor for notices. You may also check with the Director of Creative Writing (KUY 511) for information on when and how to apply.

Graduation Reception
On the Friday afternoon before final exams in the Fall and Spring, the Department holds a reception for its graduating seniors to celebrate the completion of an important rite of passage and to bid its students farewell. Family and friends are welcome. The graduates are individually honored, lei are bestowed, and food and beverages complete the ceremony. The Department urges all graduating majors and minors to attend.