/ Any St. Norbert student enrolled for the fall or spring semester of the current academic year is encouraged to submit his or her work to the contest. All spring submissions to Graphos are automatically entered. English faculty members serve as judges. The categories are creative prose, poetry and critical essay.
First prize: $300
Second prize: $100 Submission guidelines:
The James A. and Mary M. Delaney family created a generous endowment designed to encourage writing as a core precept of a liberal arts education. Specifically, the fund serves to acknowledge notable writing skills by St. Norbert College junior and senior students who have chosen to major in disciplines outside of the English department.
In spring, two $1,400 Delaney Endowment prizes will be awarded to submissions from top creative writers as selected by a team of St. Norbert College faculty members.
Contest entries are to be of original writings, not required for classwork, in one of the following categories:
Critical essay
Creative prose
Poetry
The contest deadline is March 24. Visit this page to learn more about the scholarship and/or submit your work.
Tom Davidson (English, Emeritus) instituted this award in 1984. To start the award, Davidson pledged a generous donation. He inspired many other English professors to commit liberally to the scholarship fund as well. Students are chosen on the basis of scholastic promise and must be pursuing a course of study in English.
Mary McHale Wood, a graduate of St. Norbert College, was a passionate writer with a sense of purpose that set her apart from the crowd. She died in 2002 and her family created a scholarship – $1,000 above and beyond any money already promised to the recipient – to carry on her legacy.
Each year, the English faculty selects a worthy emerging writer from the junior class to honor with this award. They look for a writer with a sense of vocation and who has gone above and beyond the call over the years in his or her writing courses. This student not only shows talent, but discipline, ambition, and, best of all, care for other writers in his or her community. This student shares expertise with others, helps others succeed in their writing adventures and serves as a galvanizing force in the St. Norbert writing community.
To learn more about the scholarship and Mary McHale Wood, visit the website.
The Rev. Patrick N. Butler (1901-73), who served as dean of St. Norbert College for two years in the early 1940s, was chairman of the English department from 1930 until 1964. He continued to teach in that department until his retirement in 1971. He was a charter member of the National Scholastic Honor Society known as Delta Epsilon Sigma, and was instrumental in establishing the St. Norbert College chapter in 1940. Butler was a first-rate scholar who was thoroughly devoted to his priestly duties. He served as director of the Norbertine summer camp for boys on Shawano Lake for 42 years.
At his death in 1973, he left a glowing record of honest intellectual achievement; absolute moral integrity; and warm, cheerful humor – the three qualities, which, in the judgment of the English faculty, also characterize the recipient of this award.
