Four UT Writers Win at State Finals

Four University of Tampa Honors Program students have won awards in the Florida Collegiate Honors Council Writing Contest for 2004-05. They will be receiving certificates and checks at the FCHC annual conference in Gainesville, Feb. 18-20.

The FCHC, representing all of the Honors programs at universities and colleges in the state, gives a total of 15 writing awards each year, three in each of five categories, to competitors from across the state. First-place winners receive $100 each, second-place winners $50 each, and third-place winners are awarded certificates.

All awardees receive free registration at the FCHC conference, and first- and second-place winners’ universities receive partial reimbursement for their hotel expenses at the conference.

Two of this year’s five first-place winners are UT students.

Tamara Rena Bird, a UT senior majoring in writing, won first place in the poetry category for “China Cup.” She won first place in the same category in last year’s statewide competition, making her the first UT student to win first place in consecutive years.

Another first-place winner this year is Liza Lugo-Clark, a senior government and world affairs major, who won in the junior/senior documented research or critical thinking category for “The Inadequate Funding of Public Elementary and Secondary Education.”

Taking second place in the same category is David Schuster, a junior psychology major, for “The Search for Justice in Rosewood.” Crystal Banning, a senior Honors research fellow majoring in government and world affairs, won third place in the creative prose category for “No Child Left Behind.”

For more information, contact the Office of Public Information at publicinfo@ut.edu or (813) 253-6232.