The 2013 winners of the Maier Awards, sponsored annually by the Maier Foundation Inc., and hosted by Marshall University’s College of Liberal Arts, were announced Friday, April 19, during a ceremony in the MU Foundation Hall, Home of the Erickson Alumni Center on Marshall’s Huntington campus.
Outstanding high school students and Marshall students in both Latin and writing competitions were recognized during the awards ceremony. Dr. Jane Hill, chair of MU’s Department of English, and Professor Art Stringer presented the awards.
The Maier Latin Cup Awards were established in 1979 by William J. Maier Jr., father of former Maier Foundation President Ed Maier, to repay in some way the special attention his high school Latin teacher at Huntington High School showed him.
A high school graduate at the age of 16, William Maier received an award then given by West Virginia University which named him the top Latin student in the state. He credited the extra devotion to Latin and Latin students by his teacher as having helped him secure a scholarship to Harvard College.
The Maier Latin Cup Awards celebrate publicly the best high school Latin students in West Virginia. They are administered by Marshall’s Department of Classics .
Also, Marshall’s Department of Classics sponsors the Maier Latin Scholarship, which is underwritten by the Maier Foundation. This $2,000 scholarship is intended to support the work of a student presently pursuing a Latin major at Marshall and who is enrolled in advanced Latin classes.
The William J. Maier writing awards were established in 1972 by William J. Maier Jr., in honor of his father. These awards, for excellence in writing, are presented annually to students enrolled in English classes at Marshall.
Here are the winners of this year’s Latin and writing awards. For the college students, the degrees indicated are the ones they are pursuing or recently earned.
Maier Latin Sight-Translation Contest
Latin I
First place: Mike Reed, The Linsly School. Teacher: Nicoletta Sella
Second place: Chris Austin, Charleston Catholic. Teacher: Ginny Cook
Third place: Noah Taylor, Hedgesville. Teacher: Margaret Horioka
Latin II
First place: Alex Martin, George Washington. Teacher: Ruth Diller
Second place: Collin Kelly, The Linsly School. Teacher: Nicoletta Sella
Third place: Keaton Snodgrass, Charleston Catholic. Teacher: Ginny Cook
Latin III
First place: Alec Reed, The Linsly School. Teacher: Nicoletta Sella
Second place: Patrick Hart, Charleston Catholic. Teacher: Ginny Cook
Third place: Bethany Taylor, Huntington High. Teacher: Amy McElroy
Latin IV
First place: Taylor Cunningham, The Linsly School. Teacher: Nicoletta Sella
Second place: Sami Harris, Charleston Catholic. Teacher Ginny Cook
Maier Latin Cup Awards Competition
Winner: Colin Kelly, The Linsly School. Teacher: Nicoletta Sella
Runner-up: Steven Johnson, Brooke. Teacher: Ede Ashworth
Basic Composition Non-Research
First place: Landscape – Stephen Phelps, B.S. Biological Science, Fort Gay, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor A. Mazakis
Second place: Life Worth Living – Alexander Srodes, B.A. History, Marlinton, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor A. Mazakis
Third place: Accidents Happen – Shannon Abbott, B.A. Criminal Justice, Ona, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor K. Martin
Basic Composition Research
First place: A Review on the Progress of Modern and Traditional Treatment Therapies of HIV/AIDS – Juliet Djietror, Pre-Science, Huntington, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor K. Prejean
Second place: Distrust Toward Medicine in the African-American Community – Nathan Wood, Education, Milton, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor A. Mazakis
Third place: Is Processed Food Out to Get You? –Haley Stewart, Undecided, South Point, Ohio. Faculty mentor: Professor T. Bomsta
Upper Division Non-Fiction Prose
First place: Affecting the Disaffected: ‘The Stranger’ and the English Discipline – Shaina D.W. Taylor, B.A. Political Science, Petersburg, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor J. Hill
Second place: Vision, Madness and Self Realization: A Theory of Poetry – Stacy R. Sexton, B.A. English, Mount Gay, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor J. Hill
Third place: The God It Calls Among Us: The Troubles, ‘Astral Weeks’ and the Purpose of Rhythm – Brian M. Brady, B.A. English, Scottown, Ohio. Faculty mentor: Professor J. Hill
Graduate Non-Fiction Prose
First place: Ethics of the Domestic: Ethical Criticism and Postmodernism in Beattie’s Novels – Whitney Naylor-Smith, M.A. English, Hurricane, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor J. Hill
Second place: A History Elsewhere: Holocaust Recall and World War II Video Games – Mitchell C. Lilly, M.A. English, Beckley, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor R. Peckham
Third place: Metafiction as a Tool of Inquiry in Ann Beattie’s Novels – Rajia Hassib, M.A. English, Charleston, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor J. Hill
Graduate and Undergraduate Poetry
First place: Learning to Stand – Daniel Lassell, M.A. English, Eminence, Ky. Faculty mentor: Professor A. Stringer
Second place: Everything is Broken – James K.E. Brooks, B.A. English, Huntington, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor A. Stringer
Third place: Woman Crossing Buskirk – Delaney McLemore, B.A. English, Huntington, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor A. Stringer
Graduate and Undergraduate Creative Non-Fiction
First place: Flowerbeds  – Whitney Naylor-Smith, M.A. English, Hurricane, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor R. Peckham
Second place: True Fiction: The Mothman of Point Pleasant – P. Jackson Armstrong, B.A. English, Kenova, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor K. Prejean
Third place: Silent Partners – Michelle Hogmire, B.A. English, Gerrardstown, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor R. Peckham
Graduate and Undergraduate Fiction
First place: After a Funeral, Before a Test – David Robinson, M.A. English, Scott Depot, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor A. Viola
Second place: Stealth – Michelle Hogmire, B.A. English, Gerrardstown, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor J. Van Kirk
Third place: Endangered Species – Robin Harbrecht, B.A. English, Point Pleasant, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor J.E. Smith
Multimedia
First place: Hunter – Brittany Frederickson, B.F.A. Visual Art, Scott Depot, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor K. Martin
Second place: Shakespeare’s Sister Resurrected (and Corrected): A Manifesto of a Plebian (and Female) English Major – Michelle L. Croy, B.A. Secondary Education, New Haven, W.Va. Faculty mentor: Professor J. Hill
Third place: Elbows on the Ceiling: Emily Updegrove, M.A. Secondary Education, Catlettsburg, Ky. Faculty mentor: Professor A. Carey
