Categories
University Faculty for Life

Announcement of 2015 UFL Essay Contest Winners

The University Faculty for Life Scholarly Achievement Award in Creative Writing, Literary Criticism, or Research has encouraged students since 2004 to submit their best work for the cause of life.  This year’s entries continue to challenge contest judges with high quality submissions.  The eight essays received in the Creative Writing and Research categories total 33,180 words, 282 footnotes, and 63 bibliographic entries—an impressive increase in the quantity of materials that judges evaluated for 2015.

As in previous years, the quality of this year’s entries made the selection challenging.  The judges greatly appreciate that you, the faculty, took time from your busy schedules to promote the contest and to encourage your students to submit their best work.  Thank you!

Recognizing the quality of students’ research efforts, the judges are proud to announce that there are seven honorable mentions for this year’s contest.  As you will see, the range of topics submitted is impressive.  In the Creative Writing category, the honorable mentions are:

  • Elizabeth Mitchell, a student at the University of Kansas Medical Center, for her essay “Generation Y: A Comment on Abortion Versus The Millennials”

and

  • Anton Sorkin, a student at Emory University School of Law, for his essay “A Trial of  Strength: Scenes of Violence; Building a Case for the Right of a Willing Father to His Unborn Child”

In the Research category, the honorable mentions are:

  • Anna Capizzi, a graduate student in the moral theology program at Seton Hall University, for her essay “Human Trafficking as a Moral Evil in History and Today”
  • Sharon M. Gutkowski, a graduate student at Seton Hall University, for her essay “The Catholic Analysis of the Moral Absolute Against Abortion”
  • Andrew S. Kubick, a student in the post-master’s certificate program, concentrating in bioethics, at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, for his essay “Marriage and a Culture of Life”
  • Miriam McKee, a student at Loras College, for her essay “Connecting Kingdom of Heaven Parables to the Morality of Capital Punishment”

and

  • Katie Tipton, a student at Patrick Henry College, for her essay “Will We Survive Our Technology? A Study of The Singularity in Light of the Doctrine of Personhood”

And finally, the first place winner of this year’s University Faculty for Life Scholarly Achievement Award in the Research category is

  • Meaghan Frawley, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Notre Dame, for her essay “On the Nature of the Fetus”

The University Faculty for Life Essay Contest is a significant way that pro-life students can be challenged to write mellifluous creative writing or research work, 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 in the academic environment.  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.  May next year’s contest inspire students to submit even more challenging work!

 

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.