Department Awards
The Department of Writing and Rhetoric honors its students and faculty with annual awards for excellence in writing, teaching, and community engagement.
The Writing Excellence Awards are designed to honor outstanding student essays, projects, and compositions created for Writing and Rhetoric courses. This prestigious accolade not only acknowledges students’ hard work but also provides a platform to highlight their academic achievements to a broader audience.
The Teaching Excellence Award recognizes one Special Lecturer who provides our writing students with engaging, challenging, and active learning experiences, who employs best practices in the field of composition, who may regularly lead or participate in professional development, and who dedicates time to the student-instructor relationship, as well as student well-being.
The Community Engagement Award recognizes one Special Lecturer who demonstrates significant involvement within Oakland University and/or the local community, and who facilitates a high level of students’ campus or community engagement.
The Writing Excellence Awards is seeking outstanding essays, projects, and compositions written for OU Writing and Rhetoric courses. The awards are open to all undergraduate students at Oakland University who have composed work for WRT courses taken during winter, summer, and fall.
Submissions and applications will be judged by faculty in the Writing and Rhetoric Department. One winner will be selected in each category. Each winner will receive $200 and a Writing Excellence Awards book, where all of the winning work will be published or linked to.
Submissions for all categories for 2027 will open late 2026, with the Writing Excellence Awards reception to be held in the spring of 2027. More information will be forthcoming.
To read about winners from past years, please access the information below.
First-Year Writing Analytical Essay -- Outstanding analysis essay written for WRT 1020, 1050, or 1060. Submissions might include an OU investigation project, career investigation project, discourse community project, or rhetorical analysis paper.
First-Year Writing Personal Narrative or Reflection Essay -- Outstanding writing within 1050 or 1060. Submissions might include students reflecting on their composition pieces or first-person narratives.
WRT 1060 Research Essay -- Outstanding research essay written for WRT 1060 that focuses on developing knowledge, synthesizing secondary (and possibly primary) sources effectively, and documenting appropriately in APA format. Professors, please nominate 1-2 students from your class, and ask them to submit their essay.
Upper-Level Analytical or Research Essay -- Outstanding essay written for any upper-division Writing and Rhetoric course (at the 2000-level or above). Submissions should have a clear purpose within Writing and Rhetorical studies, synthesize and document secondary (and possibly primary) sources effectively, and demonstrate appropriate and clear uses of language for specific audiences.
Professional Writing -- Outstanding writing for any upper-division professional, technical, or business Writing and Rhetoric course. Projects may include proposals, analytical reports, brochures, fundraising documents, or other compositions written for professional audiences.
Digital Media Composition -- Outstanding digital media composition project composed for any course in Writing and Rhetoric. Projects could include videos, visual presentations, audio essays, podcast episodes, photo essays, webtexts, or other kinds of digital media writing. Projects submitted in the digital media category should use multiple modes of expression to communicate (such as words, visuals, audio, and/or video).
Writer's Growth Award -- This award will be given to one student in a WRT 1020: Basic Writing course who has demonstrated significant growth in writing and composition across the semester. Professors should nominate one student per class and nominated students should submit their OU Community-based essay or project (early drafts and final copy). If you are interested in being nominated for the Writer's Growth Award, please contact your professor from WRT 1020.
Marshall Kitchens Creative Nonfiction Award -- This award honors authors of exemplary nonfiction stories that focus on real life, personal, experience, and craft for WRT 3086 or 4086. Submissions might be a personal narrative, travel writing, place-based essay, profile, object meditation, lyric essay, braided essay, or other work of creative nonfiction.
The 2027 Writing Excellence Awards Reception will be held in the spring of 2027. Time, date, and location will be announced late in 2026.
The 2026 Writing Excellence Awards Reception was held Tuesday, March 31, in the Oakland Center Gold Room C.
Award winners and their guests, faculty in Writing and Rhetoric, and OU administrators were invited to attend the reception to celebrate the winners:
First-Year Writing Analytic Essay
"A Public Writing Rhetorical Analysis: The Hope Speech by Harvey Milk" by Shelby Porta
First-Year Writing Personal Narrative or Reflective Essay
"Finding Expression of the Heart" by Gianna Johnson
WRT 1060 Research Essay
"Female Hijabi Muslims in America" by Farah Alhasan
Professional Writing
"The Rise of Unregulated Coaches" by Jonathan Mullins
Digital Media Composition
"An Investigation of Fan Culture Surrounding Wilbert Awdry's Railway Series" by Rickey Miller
Marshall Kitchens Creative Nonfiction Award
"The Heath" by Claire Martin
Please contact the Writing and Rhetoric department (wrt@oakland.edu) for information about other past winners.
The Timothy J. Briggs Teaching Excellence Award is presented to one Special Lecturer in the Writing and Rhetoric department who, provides engaging, challenging, and active learning experiences for writing students; employs best practices in the field of composition; dedicates time to fostering the student-instructor relationship and ensuring student well-being; and participates in professional or department level development.
The Marshall Kitchens Community Engagement Award recognizes one Special Lecturer (SL) or Lecturer (LL) who demonstrates a high level of community engagement (personal and/or with students) within our campus community (OU), cross-campus partnerships, and/or into our local communities.
Department of Writing and Rhetoric
586 Pioneer Drive
Rochester, MI 48309-4482
(location map)
(248) 370-2746
fax: (248) 370-2748
Department of Writing and Rhetoric
586 Pioneer Drive
Rochester, MI 48309-4482
(location map)
(248) 370-2746
fax: (248) 370-2748
