2010 Prize Winner:

This year's Presidential Undergraduate Prize for Best Undergraduate Essay on a Comparative Topic goes to Kirsten Harmon of Georgetown University, for her paper, “Voices of the South. Re-telling History through Fiction in the Works of William Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez.”

With “Voices of the South. Re-telling History through Fiction in the Works of William Faulkner and Gabriel García Márquez,” Kirsten Harmon has written a very compelling comparative work across two languages. The topic of “The Two Souths” in itself is fraught with controversial issues, yet Kirsten used excellent judgment in covering vast amounts of secondary sources, both topic-specific and theoretical, knowing how to sift through these materials without losing sight of her purpose. As she engages with primary texts, Kirsten also shows an admirable sense of historical, political and formal problems, and produces an integrated, flowing and powerful piece. Sophisticated, lucid, and graceful, her writing is a flexible instrument that transmits the subtlety and complexity of her thought, without sacrificing directness and passion.

2010 Presidential Undergraduate Prize Committee:
Nicoletta Pireddu, Georgetown Uuniversity (Chair)
Martin Harries, New York University
Ronit Ricci, National University of Singapore