Wilkes-Barre, Pa., April 4, 2022—King’s College seniors Rose Watters and Michael Ecker placed first and second in their respective categories of the Delta Epsilon Sigma’s national writing competition.
Delta Epsilon Sigma is a national scholarly honor society founded in 1938 by Father Edward A. Fitzgerald who wanted to form a national association of Catholic scholastic honor societies. The national writing competition, presented annually by DES, is open to all undergraduates attending any of the over 100 institutions with DES chapters. As part of the competition, awards are given for poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction/personal essay, critical/analytical essay, and scholarly research. A $500 first prize and $250 second prize are awarded in each category.
Rose Watters (Jarrettsville, Md.), a physician assistant major, tied for first place in the short fiction category with her work, “The Ornate Hairbrush,” a contemporary rewrite of “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
Michael Ecker (Quakake, Pa.), a professional writing major with minors in history and political science, placed second in the scholarly research category with his “[Exit Director, Pursued by Playwright]: An Analysis of Competing Authorial Intent and Artistic Interpretation in Modern Drama.” Ecker’s research examined stage directions from modern drama, providing a history of iconic stage directions such as Hamlet’s holding of Yorick’s skull and Shakespeare’s infamous “[Exit: Pursued by Bear]” from A Winter’s Tale.
Angelia Y. Falcone (Pittston, Pa.), English major and Class of 2023, received an honorable mention for her creative nonfiction piece, “Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are.”
Over the past several years, King’s College students have placed at the national level, earning awards in poetry and fiction. The recognition demonstrates the commitment of the English faculty and creative writing programs that foster the growth of excellent writers and encourage them to share their work. King’s offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in professional writing, English, and English with secondary education certification. Students interested in the program should visit kings.edu/englishliterature.