2018 Runner-up of the Bechtel Prize By Glenis Redmond Author and T&W Board member Tayari Jones selected Glenis Redmond’s essay, “Poetry as a Mirror,” as the runner-up for the 2018 Bechtel Prize. Teachers & Writers Collaborative awards the annual Bechtel Prize to the author of an essay that explores themes related to creative writing, arts education,…
By M.L. Thompson For some of us, the moment we saw ourselves in an empowering way was a Disney character, or maybe some fleeting instance we never engaged again. For Glenis Redmond, the moment was Yolanda Walker performing “1,968 Winters” at a school assembly. Redmond meditates and explores this performance in her essay, “Poetry As…
2018 Winner of the Bechtel Prize By Julie Landsman Author and T&W Board member Tayari Jones selected Julie Landsman’s essay “Words, Images, and Music: How We Enter” as the 2018 Bechtel Prize winner. Teachers & Writers Collaborative awards the annual Bechtel Prize to the author of an essay that explores themes related to creative writing,…
2017 Runner-up of the Bechtel Prize By Eileen Sutton Author Garth Greenwell selected Eileen Sutton’s “Dear Mr. Doctorow” as the runner-up for the 2017 Bechtel Prize. Teachers & Writers Collaborative awards the Bechtel Prize to the author of an exemplary essay that explores themes related to creative writing, arts education, and/or the imagination. Greenwell said, “This…
2017 Winner of the Bechtel Prize By M.K. Rainey Author Garth Greenwell selected M.K. Rainey’s essay, “I Hate Writing: On the Necessity of Being Vulnerable,” as the recipient of the 2017 Bechtel Prize. Teachers & Writers Collaborative awards the Bechtel Prize to the author of an exemplary essay that explores themes related to creative writing,…
2013 Winner of the Bechtel Prize By Chris Belden “I died in 1960 from a prison sentence and poetry brought me back to life.” –Etheridge Knight 1. Follow the rules of the institution Before each weekly workshop session, store your valuables and any unauthorized items in the locker provided. Remove any metal objects, including your…
2012 Winner of the Bechtel Prize By Barbara Flug Colin For Robert May 19, 2012 She is speaking softly, boldly. as she did when she was my fifth-grade student. But now she is a post-doc fellow. She is telling me about the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) show she saw yesterday. The genius of…
2011 Winner of the Bechtel Prize By Janet L. Bland It started with a possum running right in front of the van. There are many things that I don’t want to happen when I am driving a van full of my students (including, but not limited to, vomiting, flat tires, love triangles, and snowstorms),…
2009 Winner of the Bechtel Prize By Emily Raboteau The students call it “shitty college,” and I can’t exactly blame them. In the North Academic Center building, the walls are made of cinder blocks, there are mice in the hallways and the ceiling tiles are falling down. There’s a myth that NAC was designed by an…
2005 Winner of the Bechtel Prize By Diane LeBlanc Imagined air unweaves our losses and dissolves ourselves into ourselves, scatters us into leaves, and you and I become whatever words we may have come so far to say. —Henry Taylor, “Learning the Language” My grandmother Rosa was the first woman I ever heard speak with…