FYE Prize

Candace Carlucci Backus '66 FYE Prize in Honor of Student Academic Achievement in the First-Year Experience

The First-Year Experience Prize, supported with the generosity of Candace Carlucci Backus ’66, will be awarded annually to up to three projects by first-year students in recognition of exceptional scholarly or artistic achievement in the fall’s Scribner Seminars.

During the spring semester, the First-Year Experience Office will solicit nominations from the previous fall’s Scribner Seminar instructors. Nominations may be either for individual or collaborative projects, and may include any kind of exemplary work – written, visual, or performative.

Congratulations to the Class of 2028 First Year Experience Backus Prize Winners!

Dylan Dreizen (’28), Jalane Mendo ('28), and Zivitte Bergman-Igra (‘28) are the recipients of the 2024-2025 Candace Carlucci Backus Prize for their outstanding work in their Fall 2024 Scribner Seminars.

Class of 2028 FYE Backus Prize Winners:

Dylan Dreizen, for their Blackout Poetry and Original Compositions from the Scribner Seminar Making Things Right, with Professor Larry Jorgensen

Jalane Mendo, for her creative short storyThe Missing Variable and companion reflective essay from the Scribner Seminar Freedom Dreams and the Black Radical Imagination with Professor Jenni Mueller

Zivitte Bergman-Igra, for her paper "No to Virtuosity: Disability, Aging and the Ordinary Body in Yvonne Rainer's Dance" from the Scribner Seminar Extraordinary Bodies with Professor Susannah Mintz

Congratulations to the Class of 2028 FYE Backus Prize Nominees!

Neva Hudson ('28), nominated by Professor Barbara Black

Clarissa Rachmiel ('28), nominated by Professor Barbara Black

George Fortin ('28), Adin Skye ('28), and Skye Smith ('28), nominated by Professor Dennis Schebetta

Margaret Harris ('28), nominated by Professor Larry Jorgensen

Elise Hinrichs ('28), nominated by Professor Susannah Mintz