2020 Barbara Schneider Student Writing Award Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 Barbara Schneider Student Writing Awards: Alicia Van Hyfte, Zach Green, Xenia Reloba de la Cruz and honourable mention to Haley Pelletier.

 

Alicia Van Hyfte's essay, "Viral Diseases and Viral Internet Memes: How Internet Policy is Influenced by a Pandemic" was selected as the winner of this year's Barbara Schneider Student Writing Award (Communication and Media Studies, Undergraduate).

About the winning essay, the selection committee wrote, "Alicia’s essay presents timely, meticulously researched analysis of the challenges of content regulation on social media platforms in a moment of widespread misinformation. The committee members were impressed by the balance Alicia’s essay struck between fluent engagement with critical scholarship and the presentation of practical policy recommendations, and they agreed that her essay embodies the best of our undergraduate student research."

Zach Green's essay, "A Formalism of Feeling: Queer Temporalities and Memory in Portrait of a Lady on Fire" was selected as the winner of this year's Barbara Schneider Student Writing Award (Film Studies, Undergraduate). 

About the winning essay, the selection committee wrote, "Zach’s essay exemplifies the best qualities of film studies scholarship, blending meticulous analysis, eloquent description, and ambitious argumentation. Sympathetic to the film’s aesthetic contours and narrative situations, Zach’s paper offers a nuanced assessment of Celine Sciamma’s recent cinema that is as patient and as intelligent as the film itself."

Xenia Reloba de la Cruz's essay "Ideology and Framing as Complementary Categories Within Social Movements Analysis" was selected as the winner of this year's Barbara Schneider Student Writing Award (Communication and Media Studies, Graduate).

About the winning essay, the selection committee wrote, "Xenia’s essay impressed the adjudication committee with its conceptual fluency, bringing complex ideas and a diverse literature into productive alignment. The stakes of Xenia’s discussion, concerning framing processes and ideological visibility, attain special force as the discussion proceeds, generating real excitement about the way her ideas will mobilize new and significant research.."

Haley Pelletier's essay "Plagues, Politics and Pundits: An Analysis of Mitigating Cultural and Industry Factors that Contributed to the Slow AIDS Response in 1980s Unites States of America" has received an honourable mention for this year's Barbara Schneider Student Writing Award (Communication and Media Studies, Undergraduate).

About the winning essay, the selection committee wrote, "The essay advanced a complex and original argument about the ways that neoliberal politics and dominant journalistic values in United States of the 1980s engendered a woefully inadequate response to the AIDS crisis. The committee appreciated Haley’s incisive, critical approach to media history, and they agreed that she shows exceptional promise as a scholar."

The Barbara Schneider Student Writing Awards was established by former Professor and Department Head, Barbara Schneider. Dr. Schneider is now retired and has endowed a fund to further support this award. Donations to support and grow the award fund are welcome.