EALC is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 David Holloway Memorial Essay Prize. Prizes are awarded to essays exploring issues of gender in Japanese literature/culture in the categories of Best Undergraduate Essay and Best Graduate Essay.
The 2025 Best Undergraduate Essay Prize goes to Jena Denney for her paper “Heteronormativity and Heartbreak in Nakayama Kaho’s To the Depths of a White Rose.” Centering her essay on Nakayama’s 2001 novel, Shiroi Bara no Fuchi Made, Denney provided a compelling and historically-informed overview of non-heteronormativity and its media/ literary representations. Judges found the paper deeply engaging and carefully researched.
Emily Crichton won the 2025 Best Graduate Essay Prize for “You, Reading Yourself: Identity and Narration in Tawada Yōko’s Amerika hidō no tairiku.” Crichton’s examination of Tawada’s highly innovative 2006 work (which could be translated America, Unjust Continent) included a focus on translation entwined with the timely topic of belonging in a world where ethnic boundaries are increasingly rigid. Judges scored the paper highly for originality and the sophistication of its literary analysis.
In fact, the judges in both the Undergraduate and the Graduate categories were uniformly impressed by the caliber of talent in this year’s contest, describing the process of selecting a winner both daunting and rewarding.
With special thanks to:
Dr. Jan Bardsley, Emerita, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Dr. Pedro Bassoe, Assistant Professor, Purdue University
Dr. Kazue Harada, Associate Professor, Miami University
Dr. Marvin Marcus, Emeritus, Washington University
