Students in UT’s Creative Writing Program compete annually for the John C. Hodges Graduate Writing Prizes in fiction and poetry. Winners will read from their award-winning works at Writers in the Library, Monday, April 14, at 7 pm in the Hodges Library auditorium. The prizes were endowed by the same long-time UT English professor, author of the Harbrace College Handbook, for whom the Hodges Library is named.

This year’s winners are:

POETRY

1st Place: Charlotte Pence for “Sometimes When a Child Smiles”
2nd Place: Adam Prince for “Love Poem for My Dad”
3rd Place: Tim Sisk for “Learning to Talk”

FICTION

1st Place: Ryan Woldruff for “Ray”
2nd Place: Otis Haschemeyer for “The Fantome of Fatma”
3rd Place: Beth Keefauver for “Skin”

Dr. John C. Hodges came to UT Knoxville in 1921 and was named head of the English department in 1938, remaining in that position until his retirement in 1962.

His enthusiastic commitment to learning did not end with retirement, however. Three years earlier he had begun the task of improving the university’s library collection, and he continued to serve voluntarily as coordinator of library development until his death in 1967.

His 41 years at the University were marked by far-reaching contributions to the study of English literature and the improvement of educational methods. Dr. Hodges’ influence on the teaching of English continues today through his Harbrace College Handbook, the most widely used college text in the country.

The current John C. Hodges Main Library, which opened in 1987, was constructed around the John C. Hodges Undergraduate Library built in 1969.