Cornell's John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines has announced its spring 2008 awards for excellent expository writing in first-year writing seminars. The awards listed below are worth $300 to $500. Student essays are also eligible for inclusion in Discoveries, the institute's annual publication of selected prize-winning essays.

The awards and winners are:

• James E. Rice Jr. '30 Award: Sean Chen, College of Engineering; honorable mention, Zhen Kang Tham, College of Arts and Sciences.
• Adelphic Award, for the best essay by a student whose native language is not English: Kun Yi; honorable mention, Jaebin Choi, both College of Engineering.
• Gertrude Spencer Portfolio Award, for a student and graduate student instructor for excellence in the development of a portfolio of the student's essays: Rachel Bukberg, College of Human Ecology, and Jimmy A. Noriega, graduate student instructor in theatre, film and dance; honorable mention, Jonathan Leape, College of Engineering, and Stephen Jessup, graduate student instructor, East Asian studies.
• Gertrude Spencer Essay Prize, for a student and graduate student instructor for an essay showing the student's significant improvement in the understanding of the discipline and in his/her ability to write within the discipline: Yuanhong Luo, College of Engineering, and Tsveta Petrova, graduate student instructor, government.
• Knight Prize for Expository Writing, for the best student essay written in English 289: Lulu Yan, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).
• Knight Prize for Writing in the Majors, for best student paper written in a course affiliated with writing in the majors: Christian T. Madera, College of Arts and Sciences; honorable mention, Alanna Newman, CALS.

The following prizes were awarded to graduate student instructors:

• James F. Slevin Assignment Sequence Prize, for the teacher submitting the best sequence of writing assignments used in a first-year writing seminar: Sarah Pearce, Near Eastern studies; honorable mentions, Julie Phillips Brown, English; and Jennifer Erickson, government.
• Knight Award for Writing Exercises, for excellence in short exercises and handouts designed to improve student writing: Lindsey Cummings, theatre, film and dance; and Sarah Nell Davidson, plant biology.

For more information, see http://www.arts.cornell.edu/knight_institute/publicationsprizes/publicationsandprizes.htm.