The Deirdre M. Keenan Award for Writing Excellence

The Deirdre M. Keenan Award for Writing Excellence is an annual essay contest recognizing excellence in writing in a humanities-based field. Three winners are selected and granted the following awards:

First place: $200
Second place: $100
Third place: $50

Students present their essays on a special panel at Celebrate Carroll every spring. Celebrate Carroll is Carroll University's signature academic showcase event. Since 2005, the university community has set aside a day every spring to celebrate the academic and scholarly achievements of Carroll students and faculty through oral, poster and visual arts presentations.

2023 Winners

1st Place
Anna Guida
"FIRFA and Its Complexities"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Aaron Routhe

2nd Place
Robert Dent
"John Amos Comenius: Democtratizing Humanism and Reforming Education"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Abigail Markwyn

3rd Place
Elizabeth Miller
"The Rise of the Machine: Annihilation of Human Connection in The Rainbow"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Lara Karpenko

2022 Winners

1st Place

Morgan Clark
"Barriers to Patient-Provider Communication in the Retail Pharmacy Setting: A Qualitative Study"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Rebecca Imes

2nd Place

Noah Foster
"Harry Anslinger: How One Man Manipulated the United States into Declaring a War on Drugs"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Abigail Markwyn

3rd Place

Sian E Steffenhagen
"Eily, put the grave between us and make me happy: Feminine Mortality and Masculine Mourning in The Colleen Bawn"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Lara Karpenko

2021 Winners

1st Place

Alexandra Dyson
"Decarceration"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Aaron Routhe

2nd Place

Isaiah Silva
"Alien Rebellion: Heterotopic Sites of Resistance Against the Panopticon in Brave New World"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Lara Karpenko

3rd Place

Sophia Furman
“A Feminist Protest in D Major"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Scott Hendrix

2020 Winners

1st Place

Emma Thorpe
“The Wandering Sleuth: The Development of the Detective from the Flâneur in Edgar Allan Poe's The Man of the Crowd"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Tim Galow

2nd Place

Kally A. Day
"The Effects of the Salvadorian Civil War on Health"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Elena De Costa

3rd Place

Ashley Labodda
“Proximity, Relationships and Moral Obligations"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Kevin Guilfoy

2019 Winners

1st Place

Joseph Messink
“'You are such a queer fellow': Masculinity and the Imperial Endeavor in Victoria Cross’ Anna Lombard”
Faculty mentor: Dr. Lara Karpenko

2nd Place

Elaina Barbieri
"Get Your Penis Out of my Apocalypse"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Lilly Goren

3rd Place

Brenna Krawczyk
“Commonplace Noises as Music: An Appeal to Emotion"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Ryan Kangas

2018 Winners

1st Place

Rachael Meyer
“Constructing an American Indian Racial Identity through the Press: The Quarterly Journal of the Society of American Indians”
Faculty mentor: Dr. Abigail Markwyn

2nd Place

Dena Abu-Saif
"The Radiating Effects of Rape in Louise Erdrich’s The Round House"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Deirdre Keenan

3rd Place

Kelsey Cybell
“Relating To An Antihero: What 'UnReal’s' Main Characters Represent To Women"
Faculty mentor: Dr. Lilly Goren