Ithaca College

The Park School Faculty Writing Awards and The Park School Student Writing Awards recognize exceptional scholarly, journalistic, and creative writing by Park School faculty and students.

COMMITTEE

Steven Ginsberg
Jen Huemmer
Timothy Mirabito
Nick Sagan
Stephen Tropiano, Chair

FACULTY AWARDS

BOOK

Patricia R. Zimmermann, Professor, Screen Studies

Documentary Across Platforms: Reverse Engineering Media, Place, and Politics.  Indiana University Press, 2019.

Zimmermann’s anthology envisions documentary as a set of practices that investigate, engage with, and interrogate the world. This collection of essays, a culmination of her scholarship over the past twenty years, is a testament to her groundbreaking work and contribution to the field of documentary studies.   

ESSAY

Todd Schack, Associate Professor, Journalism

“The Revivifying Flames of Rock and Roll Journalism.” Routledge Companion of American Literary Journalism, Routledge, 2019, pp. 434-448.

Schack’s essay on music journalism was solicited by the editors of the recently published Routledge Companion of American Literary Journalism. His informative, well-crafted piece recounts the history of music journalism, highlighting the genre’s major voices and literary styles, and ponders its future at a time when “writing about music is everywhere.”

CREATIVE WRITING

Andy Watts, Assistant Professor, Media Arts, Sciences and Studies

Deathdealer: a series

Screenplay by Andy Watts with a story by Watts and Sherese Robinson Lee

Watts’s pilot for a proposed series offers a modern day take on a familiar character: the Angel of Death, who must examine his long suppressed feelings of humanity after a confrontation with a teenage orphan whose mother he “reaped” many years ago. The result is an inventive character study with the perfect blend of pathos and humor.  

STUDENT AWARDS

SCRIPTWRITING

Melanie Mitchell ’23, Writing for Film, TV, and Emerging Media

“Convince Me the Sky Is Green”

This original, well-executed script juxtaposes a fairy tale fantasy setting with modern technology that serves as a backdrop for the timeless theme of love trumps and survives all tragedy.

JOURNALISM

Vaugh Golden ’20, Journalism

“The Night the Plowshares Entered the Rabbit Run”

Vaughn’s article stood apart in its creativity, point of view, and narrative arch. He employs polished journalistic tools in telling a story enriched by ethnographic design to relay newsworthy content.

ACADEMIC ESSAY

Lauren Suna ’20, Emerging Media

“We All Live in a PokeQueer World: Pokémon and Queer Fandom”

Suna’s study of the Pokémon phenomenon through a queer lens is a smart, insightful piece of original scholarship. She evaluates the games’ history, its fan community, and how the games’ developers evolved in response to the game’s queer community of players.