CHESTERTOWN — Sky Abruzzo, an English major with minors in creative writing and journalism, editing and publishing, is this year’s winner of Washington College’s Sophie Kerr Prize.
The senior from Manassas, Virginia walked away with the nation’s largest undergraduate literary prize Friday night in a ceremony held in the Hotchkiss Recital Hall of the Gibson Center for the Arts on the college campus.
This year’s prize is worth just north of $74,000, which is more than the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award combined.
As stipulated by Kerr’s will, the prize check itself was awarded Sunday, May 18 as part of the college’s 242nd commencement.
Abruzzo, who has been serving as a senior editor at Spiteful Books since 2022, was selected from among six finalists as the graduating Washington College senior demonstrating the best potential for future achievement in a literary endeavor.
According to a news release that the college sent out Friday shortly after the prize winner was announced, Abruzzo’s portfolio showcased creative and reflective writings exploring the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world.
She read several journal logs she wrote about a plant/tree/shrub she recently monitored over several months, a tribute to a magnolia dubbed Ruby Meryl. See https://youtu.be/r7iUoriO2Eg.
“Sky’s portfolio demonstrates her incredible ear for language, eye for imagery and taste for editing,” said Courtney Rydel, associate professor of English and chair of the college’s English Department who was part of the judging panel.
Rydel said Abruzzo’s “sense of judgment is beyond her years, and her portfolio surprised us in the best of ways, as a gorgeous flowering of her potential for literary achievement.”
Among her many thanks to her professors and fellow finalists upon winning, Abruzzo closed with a thank you to her parents who “made me great.”
To view Abruzzo’s acceptance speech, see https://youtu.be/gTufNWNQ67w.
All six finalists read from their writings as a lead-in to announcement of the winner.
Their portfolios included examinations of what creates a sense of self and explorations of gender expectations and womanhood, and span poetry, prose, essays, short stories, excerpts from novels — and more.
A committee comprised of full-time faculty in the English Department and the college president reviewed all submissions and made the final decision.
Students within all majors may submit portfolios.
The Sophie Kerr Prize was created through a bequest of its namesake, an Eastern Shore native who built a successful career as a fiction writer and magazine editor in New York City.
Kerr, born in Denton in 1880, left the bulk of her estate upon her death in 1965 — estimated to be $500,000 — to Washington College. She specified that half the funds endow a prize to be awarded to the graduating senior “chosen as having the best ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor.”
The other half of the fund supports scholarships, internships, library books and the Sophie Kerr Lecture Series, which brings a steady stream of nationally known writers and editors to campus.
The Sophie Kerr Prize was first awarded in 1968, in the amount of $9,000.
The 2025 runners-up are listed here, alphabetically.
• Riley Dauber of Reading, Pennsylvania: an English major with minors in creative writing, journalism, editing and publishing, and communications and media studies.
• Natalie Martinaitis of Columbia: an English major with minors in creative writing, and journalism, editing and publishing. She had a novel published in her junior year.
• Evan Merk of Fort Washington: a biology and environmental science major.
• Brionna Odell of Baltimore: an English major.
• Lucy Verlaque of Santa Clarita, California: an English major with minors in creative writing, journalism, editing and publishing, and gender studies.
