Awards and Contests

Departmental Awards

Awarded annually through faculty nomination and faculty vote.

• Cassady Scholarship: Excellence in creative or critical writing
• Cramer Award: Excellence in academics, leadership, and commitment to the university community
• Fisher Award: Excellence in creative writing
• Joining Hands: Excellence in student teaching
• Myers Award: Excellence in critical or interpretive writing
• Roberts Award: Excellence in leadership and commitment to Quiz & Quill

Quiz & Quill Awards

Each year, Quiz & Quill coordinates writing contests open to any Otterbein student. Entries are evaluated by external judges and cash prizes awarded to first, second, and third place winners.

• Poetry
  Poems of any length and on any subject welcome. Poetry should be placed on the page exactly as you want it to appear.
• Personal Essay
  Essays on personal responses, observations, or experiences welcome.
• Short Story
  Fictional narratives on any theme or subject welcome. Stories may be any length, but only those under 15 pages will be considered for publication.
• Playwriting
  Plays on any theme or subject welcome. Scripts must be in play format, and only those 15 pages or less will be considered for publication.

Walter Lowrie Barnes Short Story Award

Funded by J. Allison Barnes
Any junior or senior who has attended Otterbein University for at least one year prior to the contest may submit. Stories should meaningfully integrate events, facts, or phases of American history (e.g. 9-11, Lincoln's assassination, Hurricane Katrina, etc.). Stories must be 2,000 to 5,000 words and emphasize the virtue of engaged and active citizenship. A correct, typed copy of all prize-winning stories shall be furnished by the writers to be put in the Otterbein University archives. The college shall have the option of publishing any successful stories.

Roy Burkhart Prizes In Religious Poetry

Funded by Mrs. Roy A. Burkhart
Poems may be no longer than 50 lines, and should deal with spiritual themes and subjects. Poetry should be placed on the page exactly as you want it to appear.

Louise Gleim Williams Newspaper Writing Prizes

Each entry will consist of three different news or feature stories, on any subject, that were published in the Tan and Cardinal student newspaper during the three quarters immediately preceding the contest. Students should submit a clipping from the original T & C in which the article appeared. The clipping must be fully identified by date and page number. The name of the writer should be omitted, either by marking it out or by cutting it out. Indicate which two stories are to be read first by the judge, by numbering your stories 1, 2, and 3 at the top. The judge will not necessarily read the third, as it will be used as a tie-breaker. One single entry form, containing the titles of all three articles as well as your name and other information (listed in the general rules section), should accompany the entry.

Louise Gleim Williams Writer's Prize

The Writer's Prize will be awarded each year to the best of all the first-place winners of the seven contests described here.

Rules & Submission Guidelines:

• Submissions will be considered for publication in Quiz & Quill and the writing contests.
• You may submit three entries in the poetry contests, and two entries in the prose contests.
• You may enter all the contests.
• All entries must be typed, with the exception of the newspaper contest, in which clips from newspapers are acceptable.
• Do not put your name on any entry. Submit a typed information sheet that includes your name, phone number, email address, the title of each piece and the contest for which each entry is intended.
• Submit your entries and the information sheet in a large envelope in the box located outside Towers 228.
• Good writing, both in mechanics and style, is required in order for the manuscript to be considered.
• No compositions previously published or submitted to another contest may be entered.
• Quiz & Quill will not necessarily publish contest winners.
• Judges for the contest are chosen by the Department of English. The names of entrants do not appear on he manuscripts.

For more info about Quiz & Quill or any of the contests, contact the English Department Chair.

Quiz & Quill is the student literary organization at Otterbein University. Q&Q welcomes Otterbein students of all majors to participate in readings, submit their work for publication, and join our staff.

The Tan and Cardinal is Otterbein's student newspaper. Find out more about it by visiting otterbein360.com, the website for the T&C as well as our radio station, WOBN, and our television station, WOCC.