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Colleges and Universities Conferences University Faculty for Life

The Scholarly Achievement Award

The University Faculty for Life Scholarly Achievement Award in Creative Writing, Literary Criticism, or Research has encouraged students since 2004 to submit their best academic work for the cause of life.  The five essays and literary contributions received in the Creative Writing and Research categories total 24,054 mellifluous words, 94 lugubrious footnotes, and 773 scholarly bibliographic entries—figures almost equaling last year’s contributions.

The judges for the context were Dr. Jeff Koloze of Koloze Consultants and Walsh University, Dr. Sandra Coyle, in the English Department at Jacksonville University, and Dr. Clara Sarrocco of the Institute of Religious Studies.  Please know that the judges greatly appreciate that you, the faculty, took time from your schedules to promote the contest and to encourage your students to submit their best work.  Thank you!

Of the five entries, four were awarded honorable mentions.  In the Creative Writing category, honorable mentions go to:

  • Allie Dawson, a Philosophy and Literature student at Ave Maria University, for her short story “Her Actions Are His Dreams”

and

  • Anna Robinson, a student at Immaculata University, for her poem “The Joy of Love”

In the Research category, honorable mentions go to:

  • Jess Adkins, a PhD student in the Philosophy program at St. Louis University, for her essay “Robbed of Life: A Thomistic Position on Terminal Sedation”

and

  • Kathryn Harvey, who graduated with an MA in Religious Studies from Cardinal Stritch University, for her essay “Matters of Life and Death: A Roman Catholic Perspective on Physician Assisted Suicide”

Finally, the winner of this year’s University Faculty for Life Scholarly Achievement Award in the Research category is

  • Isaac Longworth, a student at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, for his essay “The Societal Impact of Victim Photography”

Here is an excerpt from his essay:

[W]e cannot shy away from exposing the full horror of abortion by use of pictures, merely because it might shock or offend people.  In fact, the very nature of aborted victim imagery should evoke feelings of shock, sorrow, and outrage because abortion itself is shocking, sorrowful, and outrageous.  These are natural emotions a person should feel when faced with visual evidence of the brutal slaughter of the youngest of our kind.  Use of these images will no doubt draw ire from pro-abortion individuals and groups, but, if the pro-life movement is not making the pro-abortion movement nervous and angry, then perhaps it is not doing its job well enough.  The pro-abortion movement fears images of aborted children, because these images show two things at the same time, namely: the humanity of the preborn child, and the inhumanity of abortion.

The University Faculty for Life Essay Contest is a significant way that pro-life students can be challenged to build their publication portfolios, to be recognized by pro-life academics for their work, and, most importantly, to exercise their talents to advance the cause of life.  This year’s entries continue to demonstrate that students are willing to use their talents for life-affirming purposes with encouragement from you, their faculty.  With your cooperation, let us hope that next year’s contest will inspire students to submit even more challenging work.

[Thanks to Jeff Koloze for this report. Ed.]

RGotcher

Robert Gotcher is a dogmatic and moral theologian and long-time member of UFL who received his Ph.D. from Marquette University. He and his wife, Kathy, are raising their seven children in Franklin, Wisconsin.