WKU News
Robert Penn Warren Center announces essay contest winners
- Robert Penn Warren Center
- Tuesday, February 25th, 2020
The Center for Robert Penn Warren Studies is pleased to announce the winners of the annual student essay contest. Cameron Fontes won first place for his analysis of Robert Penn Warren’s poem “Lullaby: A Motion like Sleep.” Joseph Shoulders, placed second for an analysis of “Riverkeeper” by Margaret Gibson, and Seth Nevin came in third for an analysis of “To Autumn” by John Keats.
All three winners will receive a prize of $100 and will be recognized at the annual Robert Penn Warren Studies conference at 3 p.m. April 24 in Cherry Hall 125. The awardees will also have the option to have their work uploaded to TopScholar, WKU’s online, open-access repository of scholarship and creative works.
Each year the Robert Penn Warren Center hosts an essay contest inviting undergraduate students to submit essays that critically analyze a poem by drawing on the methodology of close reading developed and promoted by Robert Penn Warren. Winning essays effectively examine the way poetic devices contribute to the meaning of the poem, and demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the poem’s form and content. Next year’s essay contest will be announced in Fall 2020.
Contact: Marla Zubel, rpw.center@wku.edu