Arak Award

Mr. Sydney F. Arak and Ms. Ruth Toor, University of Delaware alumni, have provided funding to celebrate student writing. They established an award in honor of their parents, John and Frieda Arak.

Each year, more than 4,000 students enroll in English 110, our required first-year writing course. Students with outstanding essays are encouraged to submit their papers for consideration for the Arak Award. A committee of ENGL 110 instructors reads the work of nominees and selects the winners. Students who receive the Arak Award have their essays published online in the  Arak Journal, an annual anthology of student writing from the past year ENGL 110 class. Winners also receive a monetary prize. 

Encouraging the writing skills of a diverse college student body is vitally important. The Department of English is deeply grateful for the Arak family’s ongoing support of our work in doing so.

Eligibility:

  • Only current students of the University of Delaware are eligible to participate.
  • Essays must be written during and for the student’s ENGL 110 class.
  • Registered ENGL 110 students may submit one entry only.

Submissions must be received by January 10 of the year following the student’s enrollment in ENGL 110, e.g. essays written during 2024 courses must be submitted by January 10, 2025.
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Submission Instructions:

  • The essay document should not include any student name or other identifying information (class section, instructor’s name).
  • All essays must have a title noted on the first page of the essay.
  • The essay format must include page numbers and a header on each page consisting of the essay title or a shortened version of the title.
  • The essay must also include a complete works cited page in MLA format.
  • Essays are emailed as a Microsoft Word attachment to arak-awards@udel.edu . The email, not the essay, should include:
    1. Student’s Name
    2. Title of Essay
    3. Semester and Year ENGL 110 completed (example: Fall, 2022)
    4. Name of ENGL 110 Instructor
    5. Student’s permanent home address and campus or local, off-campus address
    6. Permanent home phone number and cell phone number
  • Submitting an essay indicates a student’s agreement that the essay was written for an ENGL 110 class at the University of Delaware and is entirely the student’s own work. If the essay receives a prize, the student gives the University Composition Program permission to publish the essay in th​e Arak Journal. Editors of the anthology may ask that a student revise the essay before publication. Editors also reserve the right to edit student essays. Winning the Arak Award and publication is contingent upon possible revision and satisfactory source checking by the Arak editorial staff.
  • If an essay is chosen as a finalist, editors will ask students for a “source packet.” This packet consists of copies of all sources used in the essay (printouts of articles, scans of book pages, etc). If a student is in doubt about what should be included in a source packet, he/she should ask an English instructor or the Associate Director of the Composition Program.