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Maroon Edition contest winners receive special awards during annual ݮƵluncheon

Maroon Edition contest winners receive special awards during annual ݮƵluncheon

Mississippi State students recently received special awards for their participation in the university’s 2018-19 Maroon Edition essay contest. Winners include (front row, left to right) Natalene Vonkchalee of Ridgeland and Garrett Smith of Starkville; (back row, l-r) Nicholas Russell of Petal; Justin Williams of Meridian; and Madison Martindale of Walnut. Not pictured is Craig Schexnaydre of Covington, Louisiana. (Photo by Logan Kirkland)

Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Six Mississippi State students recently received special awards for their participation in the university’s annual Maroon Edition essay contest.

The competition is sponsored by Maroon and Write, the university’s quality enhancement program to boost students’ writing skills. First-place winners received $500; second- and third-place, $300 and $100, respectively.

Essay subjects come from Maroon Edition, the annual common reading program for incoming ݮƵfreshmen. Upperclassmen and graduate students, along with faculty and staff members, also are encouraged to join in reading the selected book and participating in related activities.

ݮƵaccounting alumnus and best-selling author John Grisham’s “Calico Joe” was both the reading selection and essay contest topic for the competition. Grisham delivered the keynote address at Mississippi State’s 2018 Fall Convocation.

First-place winners read their essays at Mitchell Memorial Library during a celebratory luncheon organized by the university’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

Maroon and Write Co-Director Ann Spurlock, an instructor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of English, said all of this year’s winning essays will be archived and available for viewing in the ݮƵLibraries’ Institutional Repository.

Freshman winners include:

FIRST—Garrett C. Smith, now a sophomore political science major from Starkville.

SECOND—Nicholas T. Russell, a freshman undeclared major from Petal.

THIRD—Craig A. Schexnaydre, now a sophomore civil engineering major from Covington, Louisiana.

Upperclassman winners include:

FIRST—Justin R. Williams, a senior electrical engineering major from Meridian.

SECOND—Natalene Vonkchalee, a senior microbiology major from Ridgeland.

THIRD—Madison L. Martindale, a senior biological sciences major from Walnut.

For more about Maroon and Write, visit ; Maroon Edition, ; Center for Teaching and Learning, .

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