Nine Coastal Carolina University students were named winners of the 2010 First-Year Writing Awards for essays written in a first-year writing course at a ceremony Tuesday, March 8, in Wall Auditorium.

For ENGL 101, first place was awarded to Shelby Nicosia of Aiken for “The Language of My Feet”; second place was awarded to Alexander Mosier of Pawleys Island for “Sex Appeal, Pain and Heels – A Rhetorical Analysis”; and third place was awarded to Samantha Kielar of Easton, Pa., for “Lunch is Cancelled Due to a Lack of Hustle."

For ENGL 102, first place was awarded to Whitney Baumiller of Myrtle Beach for “The Rite of Passage: Male Dominance and Its Effect on Emily’s Inability to Find Self-Control”; second place was awarded to Sarah Manzi of Conway for “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud: Aimless Walk Grants Eternal Joy”; and third place was awarded to Lauren Alejo of Colorado Springs, Colo., for “Poise, Silence and Influence Prove to be ‘The Stronger.’”

And for ENGL 211, first place was awarded to James Zeller of Catonsville, Md., for “How the World Can Break Its Dependence on Fossil Fuels”; and second place was awarded to both Colleen Chittick of Hingham, Mass., for “An Environmental Report on the Pressing Issue of Beach Erosion" and Brian Atkinson of Myrtle Beach for “Mandatory Curbside Recycling: Reducing the Amount of Recyclables in Our Landfills."

The contest is sponsored and judged by the Department of English and Sigma Tau Delta. First-place winners in each category received a $100 gift certificate to the University Bookstore, second-place winners received a $50 gift certificate and third-place winners received a $25 gift certificate. All winners will have the opportunity to be published in the next edition of the “First-Year Composition Guide” in fall 2011.

For additional information about this year’s contest and submissions for the 2011 First-Year Awards, call Ellen Arnold, CCU lecturer of English and coordinator of composition, at 843-349-2606.