Writing Awards
The Conlon Writing Award
The Michael J. Conlon Awards are presented annually for best analytical writing by a first-year student, in memory of Michael J. Conlon, a former Writing Center Consultant. The winners are chosen by a committee of students who are Peer Consultants from the Writing Center.
2025
- Deniz Dokmecioglu: “Living to Die, Dying to Serve: How Power Manipulates the Meaning of Death”
- Evan Dang: “Feathered Deaths / Birds”
- Ava Christiana: “Oppression in Gaza”
2024
- Adele Shen: “A Hero’s Psychological Journey of Self-Discovery in Garden State”
- Abdul Hanan Tahir: “Textual Analysis”
- Sean Collins: “Maude Podge”
2023
- Ta’Leigh Johnson: “Modern Day Slavery”
- Sarah Pahwa: “White Lilies in a Hibiki Bottle”
- Benjamin Singer: “The War Zone of Recess”
2022
- Wendy Wang: “Can You Hear The Bauhinia Cry?”
- Nora Ryan: “Inhumanity Personified”
- Sabiha Khatun: “Overcoming Patriarchal Norms: How the Barbi-Verse Addresses Femininity”
2021
- Julian Brodsky: “COVID-19: The Virus Infecting Workplace Gender Equality”
- Emily Magoon: “Gender and Politics: Equal, But Not Really”
- Derek Son: “Shame and Politics Converge: How the Comfort Woman Statue Serves as a Space of Engagement”
2020
- Evan Gaudreau: “The Dangers of Misinformation: Greenwashing and its Effects on the Environment”
- Britney Aguayo: “The Weapon of Mass Inequity: Racial Capitalism”
- Xueer Cher Nin: “The Morality of Lying: A Contrast Between Western and Eastern Ethics”
2019
- Martina Garabedian: “Pragmatism: The Philosophical Concept Which Will Never Become Obsolete”
- Daniel Eisen: “Gender and Suicide Rates: What Role does Society Play?”
- Saanya Jhaveri: “Is Blind Recruitment the Answer?”
2018
- Cassandra Quintiliano: “Within a Leopoldian Community: Van Der Post’s Understanding of Equality in the Human-Animal Relationship”
- Sydney Dowling: “As Above, So Below”
- Rex Ciavola: “The Marine Plastic Pollution Imperative: Unsustainable”
2017
- Oussama Ouadani: “A Quivering Tailpipe: Cars and Their Thematic Significance”
- Aiswarya Arul: “The Remnants of the Civil War”
- Julianne Jeon: “Blurred Lines: History and Propaganda”
Wooten Prize for Excellence in Writing
Simeon F. Wooten taught at Babson in the 1980s and established the Wooten Prize for Excellence in Writing, a writing contest open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It is awarded annually to the top three outstanding student authors of analytical papers written in Babson intermediate or advanced courses.
2025
- William Sullivan: “Beyond Four Walls: The Sanctuary of Home”
- Aryan Nagpal: “Framing the Wild; How Media Shapes Our Perceptions of Wilderness”
- Kennedy Johnson: “Dangdut: Indonesia’s Genre for the People”
2024
- Jake Mullaney: “The Real Cost of Carbon”
- Emily Magoon: “The Disproportionality of Childhood Trauma”
- Madison Grogan: “From Saturn to the Moon: An Interview with Robert Younkin”
2023
- Divya Achanta: “Out of the Closet & Into the Streets: Analyzing 1900s Queer Ephemera”
- Aran Glynn: “The Unexamined Life: A Discourse Community Analysis”
- Audrey Cobb: “The Exploitation of Patients in Underdeveloped Countries by International Pharmaceutical Companies”
2022
- Taylor Lunt: “Rivers, Dogs, and Fog: How Classical Texts Shape Yuri Herrera’s Signs Preceding the End of the World”
- Ana Richiez: “Boys Will Be Boys … Or Will They?”
- Fiaz Bin Sayeed: “Adam Smith and Modern Capitalism”
2021
- Meg Moulton: “Coca Eradication in Colombia: Time for an Alternative”
- Maya Gupta: “Duality in Desire: Female Sexuality in Song of Solomon”
- Matthew Tufankjian: “Trump v. TikTok”
2020
- Evan Gaudreau: “The Dangers of Misinformation: Greenwashing and its Effects on the Environment”
- Britney Aguayo: “The Weapon of Mass Inequity: Racial Capitalism”
- Xueer Cher Ning: “The Morality of Lying: A Contrast Between Western and Eastern Ethics”
2019
- Michael Loffe: “God and Women in Machinal”
- Gioia de la Feld: “Lights On, Lights Off”
- Benjamin Graham-Osborne: “Family as a Source of Support and Dysfunction: The Haunting of Hill House Through a Noir Lens”