UC Announces Bicentennial Essay Contest Winners

Memories of a neighborhood bar, the love life of a distinguished archaeologist, a Jazz Age diary and even the script for a play were among the winning entries in the University of Cincinnati Bicentennial Essay Contest.

The contest was announced in October 2015 and concluded on March 31, 2016. The winning essays earned cash awards and all submitted writing may be published in a book celebrating UC's upcoming bicentennial.

Prize winners will receive $1,000 for first prize, $500 for second prize and $250 for third prize. Winning entries are:

Student Competition

First Prize: Julialicia Case, English and Comparative Literature, for “Cincinnati Storystorm”

Second Prize: Sid Thatham, Chemical Engineering and Business, for “From Being International To Becoming Bearcat For Life”

Third Prize: Vidita Kannikeswaran, College-Conservatory of Music, for “Vignettes from a Corner of Café Momus”

Faculty/Staff Competition

First Prize: Jon Hughes, professor emeritus of journalism, for “The Provost Doesn’t Call There Anymore”

Second Prize, Jack Rouse, College-Conservatory of Music, for a play, “Where It All Began”

Third Prize: Jack Davis, Carl W. Blegen Professor in classics, for “It Started with a Valentine: Archaeology at UC, Carl Blegen, and the Department of Classics”

Alumni Competition

First Prize: Janice Currie, attended 1963, for “On Hazel’s Diary”

Second Prize: Judy McCarty Kuhn, College of Education, Criminal Justice & Human Services, for “For The Record”

Third Prize: Paulette Penzvalto, College-Conservatory of Music, for “The Search for H. M. Griffin”

Visual Essay Competition

First Prize: Brad Wise, alumnus, College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning, for “Mick & Mack—A Campus Legend”

Second Prize: Jacob Hand, alumnus, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, for “100 Years of UC Hoops”

Third Prize: Brandon Reynolds, alumnus, Lindner College of Business, for “You See UC #Halloween”

As the University of Cincinnati prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2019, a group of alumni and faculty are at work to create two commemorative books for publication as part of the celebration. The book of essays - for which the contest was created - will serve as a companion to a scholarly history in preparation by UC Professor of History David Stradling.

"We want to publish a book that will engage readers even if they have never attended the University of Cincinnati," said H.C. Buck Niehoff, chair of UC's Bicentennial Spirit of History Committee. "Our university has tremendous breadth and diversity and we want a book that reflects those qualities."