Winners of the 2022 Multimodal Writing Contest celebrated at award ceremony

Students representing all schools celebrated at the 2022 Center for Writing Excellence Multimodal Writing Competition.

Following the announcement of the winners of the third annual Multimodal Writing Competition, The Center for Writing Excellence hosted an award ceremony on March 3 to celebrate the winners and runners-up.

Beginning as part of Elon’s Writing Excellence Initiative, the Multimodal Writing Competition highlights established and emerging kinds of multimodal texts and celebrates the variety of multimodal writing happening across the campus in academic, co-curricular and professional spaces.

Individuals and groups of students were invited to submit multimodal projects such as posters, web texts, podcasts, infographics, interactive media, journalism and other forms of multimodal composition.

Projects were submitted in one of nine categories: the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Communication, the School of Business, the School of Education, the School of Health Sciences, the School of Law, the CORE curriculum, Student Life or Campus Employment and Internships.

Emily Holland ’22 (right) with Heather Lindenman, assistant professor of English.

In the School of Arts and Sciences category, the winner was Emily Holland ’22 for an infographic and the runner-up was Kayla Jacobs ’22 for a podcast. Holland completed her project in Heather Lindenman’s Writing Studies Survey course. Jacobs completed her project in Assistant Professor of Arts Administration David McGraw’s Legal Aspects course.

Left to right: Michael Faccibene, Associate Professor of Journalism Amanda Sturgill and Noah Jordan. (Not pictured: Jess Kalinowski)

In the School of Communication category, the winners were Noah Jordan ’22, Michael Faccibene ’22 and Jess Kalinowski ’22 for a white paper. The runner-up was Ana Martinez-Valles for a motion design. Jordan, Faccibene and Kalinowski won the grand prize for their submission as well. The winners completed their project in Associate Professor of Journalism Amanda Sturgill’s Communicating Media Insights course, while Martinez-Valles completed her project in Associate Professor of Communication Design Phillip Motley Visual Aesthetics course.

Associate Professor of Education Heidi Hollingsworth (left) and Lila Cohen. (Not pictured: Jack Corby).

In the School of Education category, the winner was Jack Corby ’22 for an advocacy brief and the runner-up was Lila Cohen ’22. They both produced an advocacy brief.

Corby and Cohen both completed their projects in the Early Childhood Policy and Advocacy course, taught by Associate Professor of Education Heidi Hollingsworth.

In the School of Health Sciences category, the winner was Jennifer Gehrin for an infographic, and the runners-up were Brendal Vargo, Shannon Franklin and Nathan Tometich for a poster. Gehrin completed her project in the DPT Clinical Practicum and the runners-up completed their project in DPT 6223, Research Design, taught by Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Education Srikant Vallabhajosula.

Left to right: Cassandra Saxton and Destinee Astheimer

In the School of Law category, the winner was Cassandra Saxton for a poem and drawing, and the runner-up was Destinee Astheimer for a video presentation. Saxton completed her project in Professor of Law Sue Liemer’s LAW 668A21LB, Legal Methods and Communication course. Astheimer completed her project in LAW 759A, Negotiations, taught by Adjunct Professor Roy Baroff.

Left to right: Ben Kaplan, Emma Brunell, Associate Professor of English Barbara Gordon, Alyssa Wise and Julianna Fazzino. (Not pictured: Abby Hollenbeck).

In the CORE curriculum category, the winners were Julianna Fazzino ’25, Abby Hollenbeck ’25, Emma Brunell ’24, Ben Kaplan ’25 and Alyssa Wise ’25 for a magazine. The winners completed their project in COR 1100 – The Global Experience, taught by Associate Professor of English Barbara Gordon.

In the Campus Involvement category, the winner was Kayla Shaw ’22 for a series of table tents, and the runner-up was Ridley Randolph ’22 for a promotional video. Shaw completed her project in Live Oaks Communication under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Communication Design Shannon Zenner. Randolph completed a project in the Elon Gender & LGBTQIA Center under Luis Garay, director of the GLC.

Hayley Loftus and Lily Kays.

Finally, in the Internship category, the winner was Lily Kays ’22 and Hayley Loftus ’22 for a podcast series, and the runner-up was MJ Segal for a legal brief. Kays and Loftus completed their project as part of an internship at Spirit and Pride under the supervision of Luis Garay. Segal completed their project during a Residency at Legal Aid Greensboro under the supervision of Taleed el-Sabawi, assistant professor of law.