Students

2024 de Courtivron Writing Prize

The Isabelle de Courtivron Writing Prize recognizes high-quality undergraduate writing (creative or expository) on topics related to immigrant, diaspora, bicultural, bilingual, and/or mixed-race experiences.

The participants’ entries for the 2024 de Courtivron Prize impressed the selection committee. Some authors challenged definitions of home, ancestry, gender, and identity. Others described language and cultural barriers and differences across generations. The entries examined the wonders and challenges of mixed-race, bicultural, bilingual, immigrant, and diasporic experiences. Committee members are extremely grateful to the authors for sharing these personal reflections.

First Prize

Fiona Lu, First Year, for “Mother Tongue” The committee awarded this piece first prize because not only was it beautifully composed, but it also stood out for its rich reflections on language, culture, family, identity, and belonging. The committee appreciated the artistic alternating between Chinese and English numbers as well as the evocative and poetic phrases such as “I would describe myself as having no native language. A perpetual outsider, a thief of words” and the conclusion “In some versions of the memory, I am speaking a mixture of Chinese and gibberish, and in others, I am completely silent, awed at how my mom makes magic with her hands. I do not think of what language I am speaking or what culture I belong in. All I know is that I am home.”

Second Prizes

Pragnya Govindu, Artificial Intelligence and Decision Making, Class of 2025, for “Brahmamokate / The Oneness of Existence” This polished piece delves into the author’s search for cultural identity, blending an American upbringing with South Indian heritage through Carnatic music. Facing linguistic challenges and finding comfort in devotional songs, this piece examines the nuances of tradition, gender, and caste. This journey of learning and reconnection through music offers a compelling look at identity, belonging, and the role of music in linking us to our roots.

Janina Ojeiduma, First Year, for “Walking, Lately.” This thought-provoking and moving work was selected for its poignant reflections on home and race and its beautiful and powerful poetry. “Walking, lately, I’ve felt this winter pain inside my legs, This rustling in the pines above my head. My feet long for the season of rain, The roaring beach in Tarkwa Bay. No tree can bloom in the snow with its roots in the sand. Over oceans.”