Awards and Accolades

By: NWP Staff
Publication: The Voice, Vol. 11, No. 1
Date: 2006

Arizona

Southern Arizona Writing Project
Sharon Miller, 1985 fellow and co-director, copublished Doing Academic Writing in Education: Connecting the Personal and the Professional with Janet C. Richards (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005).

Colorado

Denver Writing Project
Mark Overmeyer, 2003 fellow, published When Writing Workshop Isn’t Working: Answers to Ten Tough Questions, Grades 2–5 (Stenhouse, 2005). Overmeyer also had two poems, “Helix” and “Helix 2,” published in the fall 2005 issue of Copper Nickel: A Journal of Art and Literature.

Florida

National Writing Project at Florida Gulf Coast University
Tom Davenport, 2002 fellow, copublished CliffsTestPrep: FCAT Grade 10 Reading and Math: 10 Practice Tests with Enrique Ortiz (Wiley Publishing, 2006).

Sara Kohlhauff, 2002 fellow and co-director, earned National Board certification.

National Writing Project at University of Central Florida
Nancy Loughlin, 2004 fellow, was named as a finalist for the Lee County Teacher of the Year Award.

Georgia

Georgia Southern Writing Project
Alisa Daniel, 1996 fellow and co-director, was appointed to the Georgia Assessment for Certification of Educators Committee.

Hawai‘i

Hawaii Writing Project
Kehau Agena, 2004 fellow, and Jill Laboy, 2000 fellow, earned National Board certification. Agena and Laboy teach at Kailua High in Kailua, O‘ahu.

Maile Chow, 2002 fellow, and Baron Steffen, 2005 fellow, each won the Best Teacher Award when their students submitted essays to a contest, sponsored by Makai: Ocean Lifestyle Magazine and Business and Leisure Holidays. As a prize, Chow and Steffen each received a trip to the Fiji Islands.

Lisa DeLong, 1996 fellow, was a finalist for the Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School Leadership Award, sponsored by Island Insurance. DeLong is principal at Kahuku High and Intermediate School in Kahuku, O‘ahu.

Lorna Hershinow, 1984 fellow, won the 2004–2005 Celebrate Literacy Award from the Aloha State Council of the International Reading Association for her work in founding and running the writing project site’s Teen Reading Program, cosponsored with the Hawai‘i Council of Teachers of English. Hershinow teaches English at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in Honolulu, O‘ahu.

Mike Hewitt, technology liaison, won the Kapi‘olani Community College Chancellor’s Award for service to the college and community. Hewitt had “I’m Glad My Landlady Doesn’t Worship Satan,” “Pa Aliens,” and “Samoan Spaghetti” published in the 2003–2004 issue of KaNani, the college’s student journal of literature and art.

Lorey Ishihara, 1995 fellow, teaches at Kahuku High in Kahuku, O‘ahu; her students placed fourteenth in the National History Day Competition at the University of Maryland in summer 2005 after they had placed first in the Hawai‘i History Day competition.

Juliet Kono Lee, 1991 fellow, published The Bravest ‘Opihi: How Two of Hawaii’s Smallest Sea Creatures Saved the Day (BeachHouse Press, 2005).

Suzanne Kosanke, 1993 fellow, received the Excellence in Teaching Award for the college of languages, linguistics, and literature at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, where she teaches English.

Wendy Miyake, 2002 fellow, has published Beads, Boys and the Buddha (Lotus Moon in Love Press, 2006). The first story in the collection previously won first place in the Honolulu Magazine Fiction Contest. Miyake teaches at Leeward Community College in Pearl City, O‘ahu.

Wesley Teraoka, 2003 fellow, has won the Regents Award for Excellence in Teaching at Leeward Community College, where he teaches geography.

Sharon Rowe, 2004 fellow, won third place for poetry in the O‘ahu Arts Center Writing Contest. Rowe teaches philosophy and ballet at Kapi‘olani Community College in Honolulu, O‘ahu.

In the spring 2005 issue of Bamboo Ridge: The Journal of Hawai‘i Literature and Arts, the following teacher-consultants had pieces published: Wendie Burbridge (2001 fellow), “The Finder”; Juliet Kono Lee (1991 fellow), “The Song of Kikaida” and “I Had Wished It for Her”; Bill Teter (1990 fellow), “From the Edge of the New Land”; and Joe Tsujimoto (1983 fellow), “Home.” Burbridge teaches at Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu; Kono Lee teaches at Leeward Community College in Pearl City, O‘ahu; Teter teaches at the University of Hawai‘i Laboratory School; and Tsujimoto teaches at Punahou School in Honolulu.

In the twenty-fifth anniversary issue of Bamboo Ridge: The Journal of Hawai‘i Literature and Arts, the following teacher-consultants had pieces published: Mavis Hara (1982 fellow), “Tomoe Ame” and “To Flo”; Cathy Kanoelani Ikeda (2000 fellow), “Rant”; Juliet Kono Lee (1991 fellow), “Fish Secrets”; Bill Teter (1990 fellow), “Intersection”; Joe Tsujimoto (1983 fellow), “The Old Man,” “Gone,” “Big Trees and Lots of Light,” and “Lucky Come Hawai‘i”; and Beryl Allene Young (1992 fellow), “Armageddon Here and Now” and “Frustrations of a Working Woman.” Hara teaches at Kapi‘olani Community College in Honolulu; Kanoelani Ikeda at Kamehameha School on the Big Island; Kono Lee at Leeward Community College; Teter at the University of Hawai‘i Laboratory School; and Tsujimoto at Punahou School in Honolulu. Young is retired from Kapi‘olani Community College.

Illinois

Illinois State Writing Project
Claire Lamonica, 1993 fellow and co-director, and Diane Walker had “Share the Load, Share the Learning: Everyone Benefits from Online Response” published in More Ways to Handle the Paper Load: On Paper and Online, edited by Jeffrey N. Golub (Urbana: NCTE, 2005).

Indiana

Indiana Writing Project
Joy Dewing, 2004 fellow, is a semifinalist for 2006 Indiana Teacher of the Year.

Louisiana

Louisiana State University Writing Project
Connie McDonald, 1989 fellow (of Acadiana Writing Project, Louisiana), has been named Teacher of the Year by River of Words, a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing children’s creative voices through poetry and art. McDonald has had so many winners and finalists in their annual contest over the years that they are honoring her at a ceremony at the Library of Congress in April.

Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project
Billie J. Smith, 2005 fellow, received the College Board’s Bob Costas Grant for the Teaching of Writing, Southern Region. With the $2,000 award, Smith will publish an anthology of student writing about Katrina and pay for the students to participate in a writing marathon in New Orleans. Smith teaches at McKinley High School in Baton Rouge.

Massachusetts

Boston Writing Project
Amanda Christy, 2005 fellow, had “Creating Writers: The Power of Discourse and Identity in the Classroom” published in the fall edition of The Leaflet, the New England Association of Teachers of English journal. Christy made a presentation on the article at the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association’s Annual Convention and Best Practices Showcase on March 31, 2006.

Mississippi

Live Oak Writing Project
Robin Craft, 1996 fellow (of South Mississippi Writing Project), was selected for the Patricia B. Mitchell Service to the Profession Award, an annual award presented at the writing project site’s visioning retreat.

Montana

Montana Writing Project
Heather Bruce, 1981 fellow and site director, won the 2006 Missoula, Montana, YWCA Salute to Excellence “Women Who Move the Stars” Award for her work related to empowering women and eliminating racism.

Donna Miller, 1983 fellow and co-director, was named Secondary Teacher of the Year for Montana.

North Carolina

Capital Area Writing Project at NCSU
Aimee Niebaur, 2005 fellow, received the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, which includes a $25,000 financial award, membership in the foundation’s network of past award winners, and an all-expense-paid trip to the foundation’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. Niebaur teaches language arts at West Millbrook Middle School in Raleigh.

Ruie Pritchard, director, and R. L. Honeycutt had “The Process Approach to Teaching Writing: Examining Its Effectiveness” published in Handbook of Writing Research, edited by Charles A. MacArthur, Steve Graham, and Jill Fitzgerald (Guilford Press, 2005). Pritchard and Honeycutt also had “Using a Structured Writing Workshop to Help Good Readers Who Are Poor Writers” published in the second edition of Effective Learning and Teaching of Writing, edited by G. Rijlaarsdam, H. van den Bergh, and M. Couzijin (Kluwer, 2004).

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State University Writing Project
Diane Brown, 2002 fellow, was named the Angus Valley Teacher of the Year. Brown also presented “The Teacher with a Thousand Faces: Educator’s Roles in Print Media” at the state literacy conference, Oklahoma Education Association Conference, and the American Association of Teaching and Curriculum Conference.

Pam Brown, 1996 fellow, was appointed to the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies’ Commission on the Status of Curriculum Studies and to the executive board of the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum. She was also granted tenure and promoted to associate professor of curriculum studies at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. Brown copresented “Media Literacy Transforming Curriculum and Teaching: National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook” at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada. She also published following articles: “Critical Media Literacy in Secondary Schools” in Handbook of Research on Teaching Literacy Through the Communicative and Visual Arts, Volume II, edited by James Flood, Diane Lapp, Shirley Brice Heath, and Shirley Brice Heath (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004); and “Pre-service Teachers Write About Diversity: A Metaphor Analysis,” coauthored with S.C. Parsons and V. Worley, in Scholar-Practitioner Quarterly 3 (1). Finally, Brown’s article “The Shadow Curriculum” was published in Media Literacy Transforming Curriculum and Teaching: Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education 104 (1), edited by herself and G. Schwarz.

Lisa Holder, 2002 fellow, was appointed director of teacher education at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Sharon Martin, 1999 fellow, presented “A Poetry-Writing Workshop” at the Oklahoma Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Fall Conference in September 2005 in Chandler.

Annie Ortiz, 1999 fellow, was selected by Techniquest Geographic, a local environmental organization, to participate in its class Resource Management in the National Parks. In sixteen days, Ortiz camped and backpacked in three national parks in Alaska. Ortiz’s class is now pen pals with a class in Anchorage.

Andrea Rains, 1994 fellow, was named Skyline Teacher of the Year and district finalist for Stillwater Teacher of the Year. Rains was selected to serve as district administrator for the Gifted Education Advisory Committee. Rains was also named the new principal of Sangre Ridge Elementary School in Stillwater.

Oregon

Oregon Writing Project at the University of Oregon
Nan Phifer, 1985 fellow and co-director, had “Memoirs with Sacred Resonance” published in the December 2005 issue of Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction.

Pennsylvania

Southcentral Pennsylvania Writing Project
Rebecca Feldbusch, 2005 fellow, had “The Innerview” published in the online issue of the Loyalhanna Review, a local literary magazine.

Valeri Helterbran, 2002 fellow, was selected Pennsylvania Teacher Educator of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators.

Texas

Sabal Palms Writing Project
Catherine Canning, 2003 fellow, published Unknown Tomorrows: A Caregiver’s Guide to Companioning the Seriously Ill (Lulu Press, 2005). Canning teaches English at Porter High School in Brownsville.

Melba S. Lucio had “Parent-Teacher Partnership 101” published in Joyful Parenting: Before You Blink, They’ll Be Grown, edited by Gail Small (Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2005).

West Virginia

Marshall University Writing Project
Tracy Baisden, 1996 fellow, was named Teacher of the Year for Logan County.

Irene Ray, 1987 fellow, was featured in “On Education: A Standout Teacher Who Also Stands Out” in the education section of the New York Times (9/7/05). Ray has been teaching at Huntington High School in Huntington for twenty-three years.