CWRU’s Writing Program announces 2026 recipients of Teaching and Writing Awards

Writing is fundamental to the work of Case Western Reserve University, enabling the development and circulation of knowledge, creating and sustaining communities and advocating for social and community action. At CWRU, the Writing Program is pleased to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of student writers and writing faculty. 

Faculty Awards for Writing Instruction and Consulting

Recipients of these awards feature faculty whose expertise and dedication have supported writers at all stages of their careers. Laura A. Voith, PhD, associate professor at Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, received the Jessica Melton Perry Award for Distinguished Teaching in Disciplinary and Professional Writing. 

Stephanie Redekop, lecturer of the Department of English at the College of Arts and Sciences, was also recognized as the recipient of the Richard A. Bloom, M.D. Award for Distinguished Teaching. Redekop received several student nominations for this award for her effective writing instruction, encouragement of discussion during seminar classes and constructive feedback on assignments.

Other award recipients include: 

• Adrienne (Ageh) Bedell, lecturer of English, who received the AIQS Innovative Teaching Award for her work helping first-year students explore grief, trauma, oppression and injustice; and
• Annie Pécastaings, lecturer of English, who received the WRC Excellence in Consulting Award, which recognizes outstanding writing instruction for CWRU students and exemplary service to the Writing Resource Center (WRC) during the academic year; 

The Writing Resource Center also recognized Lucian Alexander-Roy, a 2026 graduate who studied mechanical engineering and Peer Writing Fellow at the Writing Resource Center, for his impact as an advisor. 

Student Awards for Writing and Composing

The AIQS Writing Awards recognize students who submitted outstanding papers from their first-year writing seminars during the 2025–26 academic year. 

Winners of these student awards were: 

• Juan Antonia Horta Baltazar, who received the Lemmerman Prize for Analytical Writing for his work titled “Sound, identity, and the collapse of fantasy in Mulholland Drive” (written for the “Weird Fictions” course taught by Steve Pinkerton, lecturer of English);
  • Honorable mention: Selena Liao, who wrote “Encouraging authentic interpretations: How intentional silence can speak volumes in wordless picture book scenes” (written for the “Children’s Literature in Cleveland” course taught by Cara Byrne, lecturer of English)
• Anna Mut, who received the Holden Prize for Creative or Narrative Writing for “Honoring the past, shaping the future” (written for the “Dead Ends” course taught by Vicki Daniel, lecturer of English);
• Weber Chen, who received the Holden Prize for Multimodal Writing for “The silence between bite” (Written in Reading and Writing Ourselves by Brie Parkin, instructor of English)
  • Honorable Mention: Alex Qi, Vajk Volgyesi, Henry Senra and Megan He, who wrote “Beyond the corner of the sky: Finding meaning without religion and facing death” (written for the “Modern Virtues: Examining Contemporary Moralities” by Kevin Lucas, lecturer of English).