Scholarships & Awards

ISAACS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

The Isaacs Scholarship at City College is an undergraduate scholarship for students at the College planning to pursue a major in English Literature. Isaacs Scholars are capable of serious work in humanistic studies. The program is built around a major in English literature with collateral work in Foreign languages and the Classics: the traditional disciplines of a liberal education. https://isaacs.ccny.cuny.edu/

AY 2024-2025 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AWARDS AND PRIZES

MESSAGE FROM PROF. DANIEL GUSTAFSON, DEPARTMENT CHAIR

February 2025

Dear English Department Students and Faculty:

I invite you to participate in the English Department’s 2024-2025 Awards and Prizes competition. The long list of awards is testimony to the outstanding accomplishments of our students; to the loyal support of alumni, faculty, and friends who have funded these awards; and to the strength of the department that supports such a vibrant community.

All of the winning manuscripts will be considered for publication in Promethean, the City College’s official literary journal.

I look forward to celebrating your accomplishments at our Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 8, 2025.

Sincerely,
Daniel Gustafson
Associate Professor & Department Chair of English

Awards and Prizes Booklet view/download PDF:

AY 2023 – 2024 Award Recipients

CREATIVE WRITING AWARDS

The Doris Lippman Prize in Creative Writing – Jacob Kose
The Jerome Lowell DeJur Award In Fiction – Afsana Ahmed
The Jerome Lowell DeJur Award In Fiction – John Attanas
The Jerome Lowell DeJur Award In Poetry – Seann Weir
The Elyse L. Nass Scholarship – Sullivan Brawn
The David Dortort Prize in Non-Fiction – Julia Francis
The Henry Roth Memorial Scholarship – Afsana Ahmed
The Henry Roth Award in Fiction – Roxanna Cardenas Colmenares
The Ross Alexander Memorial Award in Drama – John Attanas
The Goodman Fund Grants – DeAsia Samuels
The Goodman Fund Short Story Award – Bjarni Erlendsson
The Graduate Children’s Writing Award – Morgan Sanguedolce
The Undergraduate Children’s Writing Award – Dedipta Bhattacharjee

POETRY AWARDS

The Esther Unger Poetry Prize – Dedipta Bhattacharjee and Roxanna Cardenas Colmenares
The Goodman Fund Poetry Award – Evan Williams

ESSAY AWARDS

The Allan Danzig Memorial Award in Victorian and Romantic Literature – Roxanna Cardenas Colmenares
The Riggs Gold Medal Essay Award – Sophie Torres and Evan Williams
The Meyer Cohn Graduate Essay Award in Literature – Brandon Borcoman

THE IRWIN & ALICE STARK AWARDS

The Stark Short Fiction Prize – Colin Lubner (graduate) and Evan Williams (undergraduate)
The Stark Poetry Prize in Memory of Raymond Patterson – Rayn Page Valleau
The Stark Award for Essay in Literature – Dedipta Bhattacharjee and Laura Sanchez Fermin
The Stark English Composition Award in Memory of Mina Shaughnessy – Norelys Lucero Reyes

AWARDS FOR GENERAL EXCELLENCE

The David Dortort Undergraduate Scholarship – Evan Williams
The Maria Bournas Student Fellowship – Franco Martin Columbo Russell 
The Margaret Halmy Prize – Dedipta Bhattacharjee
The Paul Roberts Memorial Scholarship – DeAsia Samuels
The Toni Cade Bambara Scholarship – Violet Doolittle

THE MARILYN STERNGLASS AWARDS IN LANGUAGE & LITERACY:

The Marilyn Sternglass Writing Award – Danny Katch
The Marilyn Sternglass Overall Merit Award – Tessa Miller and Erkinaz Shuminov

TEACHING AWARDS

The Norman Levine Outstanding Teaching Award – Tessa Miller
The Teacher-Writer Award – Nidhi Gandhi and Kylee Pastore

To see the award recipients in previous years, click here