The Hoefer Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Writing was awarded to six students during a special ceremony yesterday afternoon at the Faculty Club. The prizes were granted as part of the University’s effort to acknowledge the achievement of students in Writing in the Major programs.

Enlarge
#gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/2764
Mark Schrumpf

The Hoefer Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Writing was awarded to six students during a special ceremony yesterday afternoon at the Faculty Club.

Established in 1996, the prizes are funded by monetary contributions from Alan Hoefer and alumnus Kurt Hoefer, Class of 1987, through the Hoefer Family Foundation. The awards are open to students in any discipline, and winners receive a certificate, inscribed book and $350 monetary award.

The winners reflected an array of majors, including technical sciences as well as the humanities. This year, prizes were given to senior Trevor Sutton in the History Department, senior management science and engineering major Jose Mariano Resendix, junior Niki Carelli in political science and to three students who co-authored a paper: junior chemistry major Brian Faulk and sophomores Genevieve Guzman and Kristin Schleicher.

“I had no idea the award existed until I was notified, about a year after I’d written the paper,” Sutton said. “It’s very flattering, especially considering how many talented writers we have at Stanford.”

Sutton expressed his enthusiasm for the topic of his paper, which was titled, “The Penitent’s Pulpit: Alexander Radishchev and the French Enlightenment.”

“I’ve always been interested in Russian history, although most of my studies have focused on early modern Western Europe,” he said. “This was an unusual opportunity to draw parallels between the two fields.

“I was fortunate enough to find a topic that I enjoyed and that allowed for a lot of original analysis,” he added.

The prize winners’ topics were very diverse ranging from Carelli’s paper “The Politics of Extremism” to the chemistry trio’s work researching ion chromatography in determining phosphate concentration in sodas. Resendiz, who wrote his paper on illegal immigration, used the opportunity to embrace his interest in Spanish and Portuguese.

In order to be awarded a Hoefer Prize, students must first be nominated by a faculty member within their major. Winners are then chosen by a selection committee comprised of faculty and academic staff from a variety of curricular areas.

“We make sure the nominations are evaluated by readers with relevant disciplinary expertise,” said Claude Reichard, director of the Writing in the Major program. “The papers are judged according to criteria appropriate to the field as well as general merits.”

According to Reichard, the Hoefer prizes are very important in recognizing outstanding undergraduate achievement in a spectrum of disciplines. He expressed his hopes that prize recipients will continue to develop their writing skills throughout their education and careers.