Undergraduate English Majors Take Top Honors in Statewide Poetry Contest

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Addison Mahaffey

Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas has announced the winners of its 2020 statewide Jeanie Dolan Carter Memorial Collegiate Poetry Contest. Addison Mahaffey and Anna Beth Lane, both in the honors program of the Department of English in the J. Willliam Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, won 1st and 2nd place for their poetry, respectively.

Mahaffey won 1st place for her poem "Not Your Fault, Son, No Orange." Mahaffey, a senior is originally from Fayetteville, and her writing has been published in Crab Fat Magazine, Glass Mountain, and Watershed Review. She is currently at work on her honors thesis, a collection of poems and stories about girlhood and the influence of Southern spaces. After graduating this coming fall, Addison plans to pursue an M.F.A. in creative writing.  

Lane won 2nd place for her poem "Permanent." Lane's major in English includes a concentration in creative writing and a minor in cultural anthropology. She is interested in cross-cultural dynamics, having interned with nonprofits and lived with host families in Rwanda, Israel, Palestine and Philadelphia. She plans to attend a graduate program in either her major or her minor field of study. 

Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas is the oldest, non-profit poetry organization in the state, established in 1931 to encourage the art of poetry.

About the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with three schools, 16 departments and more than 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students and is named for J. William Fulbright, former university president and longtime U.S. senator.

About the Honors College: Established in 2002, the University of Arkansas Honors College helps the university's top undergraduate students excel academically, flourish personally and experience a world of opportunities. Each year the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $72,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students enjoy small, in-depth classes, and programs are offered in all disciplines, tailored to students' academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. Fifty percent of Honors College graduates have studied abroad and 100 percent of them have engaged in mentored research.