Every year, we award the Montserrat Writing Prize, a value of $300, to three students. The competition is open to all current Montserrat students. Submissions are limited to one piece of writing produced in a Montserrat seminar per student and may include essays, creative writing, film reviews, scientific reports, and reflections, to name a few. Current Montserrat students should submit their work by the last day of classes in the spring semester. Winners will be announced and prizes will be distributed at the beginning of the subsequent fall semester. We are thankful to an anonymous donor for the funds to support the prize. Questions should be addressed to the Director of Montserrat.
Winning Papers from 2025
A Fig Is More Than The Sum Of Its Seeds, Yana Giannoutsos
Borscht, Nationalism, and Identity - A Soup Story, Logan Sherwin Kornilov
Winning Papers from 2024
Sleep Dealer: A Grim Warning to Humankind, Maia Nicolosi
Transformative Mindfulness: Exploring the Role of Mindfulness in Mitigating Cognitive Biases and Political Polarization, Olivia Paulsen
Stains of Emotion: Stories Carved by the Sun, Lucy Umland
Winning Papers from 2023
In a State of Nervous Conditions: Gender Relations in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Groundbreaking Novel, Evan Garcia
Seeing Beneath the Surface: Using Critical Race Theory to Uncover Racial Inequities in the U.S. Public School System, Lauren Harkins
Mítos Boricuas, Ignacio A. Sánchez Ramos
Winning Papers from 2022
Emotional Geographies: Head, Heart, Time, and Place, Grace C. Conroy
A Roman Diary, Sarah Yebin Park
Need for Reform: The Prison System and Deaf Inmates, Catherine Pellini
Winning Papers from 2021
Mamfakinch, Annabel DeGroat
The Phoenix, Fernanda Perez-Alvarez
Sundae, Sarah Synan
Winning Papers from 2020
See, Judge, Act: Restorative Justice and Catholic Social Teaching’s Impact on American Incarceration, Maxim Caron
Of Moose and Men (and Moose-Men), Henry Cavanaugh
Human Nature in the Natural World, Alexandra Sawasciuk