IRIS CHANG
Uni High Class of 1985
1968-2004

PETER KOLODZIEJ
Uni High Class of 1979
1963-2005

ALL UNI STUDENTS are invited to enter the third annual Iris Chang and Peter Kolodziej Writing Awards competition.

The contest will honor both fiction and nonfiction writing. A $100 check, a book prize, and a plaque will be awarded to the winner in each category. The contest is open to all Uni students, subfreshman through senior.

Entry forms and information sheets are now available in the main office. The deadline is 4 p.m. Thursday, May 1. All submissions should be given to Gargoyle adviser David Porreca.

Submissions must have been written between April 20, 2007, and May 1, 2008, and must not exceed 2,500 words. Entries may include work written for classes. Writings that have previously appeared in Uni or non-Uni publications are also eligible.

Students are limited to one entry per category but may submit work in both categories. The winners will be announced May 20 at Uni's annual year-end awards ceremony. The entries will be judged by a person or persons not associated with Uni High.

For a PDF of the 2008 entry form, click here.

For a PDF of the 2008 information sheet, click here.

The inaugural winners in 2006 were Shara Esbenshade ('08) in fiction and Matthew Freeman ('06) in nonfiction. Jackie Hedeman ('07) won honorable mention in fiction. Esbenshade and Emma Anselin ('07) won honorable mention in nonfiction.

Last year, the fiction award went to co-winners Michelle Gao ('08) and Katayun Salehi ('11); the nonfiction award went to Dana Al-Qadi ('07). Honorable mention winners were Hedeman in fiction and Lydia Ansermet ('07), Esbenshade, Elaine Gu ('09), Maddy Hamlin ('07), and Ruth Welch ('08) in nonfiction.

The contest is in memory of Iris Chang, Class of 1985, a best-selling author who died in November 2004, and Peter Kolodziej, a 1979 Uni graduate and Vanderbilt University scientist who died in March 2005.

Chang and Peter's younger brother, Daniel Kolodziej, were editors of Unique literary magazine for two years and shared a passion for good writing. Daniel, who graduated from Uni in 1986, established the writing awards with help from Chang's classmates.

Now an attorney, Daniel said the competition was an appropriate way to honor Peter's memory because of his brother's interest in the written word.

"He read all the time (he was never without a book) and was an accomplished scientific author," Daniel told Gargoyle reporter Daisy Hassani in 2006.

Peter was a Harvard- and MIT-trained biochemist and biologist whose research focused on the genetic factors involved in the development of neurons and the trachea. Peter became a faculty member at Vanderbilt University in 1996 as an assistant professor of cell and developmental biology and an assistant investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Chang graduated from Uni and the University of Illinois to become the acclaimed author of three nonfiction books: "The Rape of Nanking," "The Chinese in America: A Narrative History," and "Thread of the Silkworm."

Daniel told Hassani that he hopes the contest will foster an even greater appreciation for writing among Uni students.

"Writing is the most fundamental form of communication and art — it is infinitely flexible and powerful and essential to inform, change opinions, explore new ideas, and allow humans to relate to each other and their environment," he said. "I hope the award will encourage students to develop their writing skills and help others to do so as well."