Spring 2026 English Student Scholarships and Awards
Congratulations to the recipients of the English Department’s 2025-2026 scholarships and awards!
H. Broadus Jones Senior Award for Excellence in English
Awarded to an outstanding senior major.
Recipient: Anne Jones
H. Broadus Jones Memorial Scholarship
Awarded to an outstanding rising senior major.
Recipient: Lucas Betancourt
H. Broadus Jones M.A. Student Award for Excellence in English
Awarded to an outstanding second-year student in our English MA Program.
Recipient: Mary Rhodes
Justus and Elizabeth C. Drake Scholarship
Awarded to an outstanding rising senior major.
Recipient: Julia Knowles
Emily Crandall Shaw Scholarship in Liberal Arts
Awarded to an outstanding rising senior English major who shows talent in the arts as well as in literary study.
Recipient: Nina Clayton
Beulah Lassiter Raynor Scholarship
Awarded to two outstanding rising senior majors.
Recipient: Kenley McClure
Recipient: Emily Meinert
Jerry B. & Callie Irene Stone Award Honoring Professor Alonzo Kenion
Given to a student excelling in an English course formerly taught by Prof. Kenion.
Recipient: Ian Hutcherson
H. Broadus Jones Shakespeare Prize
Awarded to students whose oral and written work shows the greatest insight into Shakespeare.
Recipient: Anne Jones
D.A. Brown Award for Excellence in Creative Writing
Given to students who show talent in the art of creative writing.
Recipient: Bella Santos
Doyle Fosso Scholarship
Awarded to select English majors for positive academic performance
Recipient: Lauren Carpenter
Recipient: Sincere Fielder
Bashier El-Beshti Prize In Renaissance Studies
Distinguished student who fulfills Al-Beshti’s ideals of learning and scholarship in Renaissance studies
Recipient: Lexi Dean
Robert N. Shorter Medieval Prize
Exceptional student in Medieval Studies
Recipient: Emily Meinert
Claudia Kairoff Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Service
Recognizing outstanding students who have made rich contributions to the life and spirit of the department.
Receipient: Neriah Oliver
About the Awards:
H. Broadus Jones Awards
H. Broadus Jones was professor and chair of English for many years. He taught Shakespeare, Romantic poetry, and Victorian poetry at Wake Forest for much of the first half of the 20th Century. Each year, the English department gives several scholarships and awards in his name.
Justus and Elizabeth C. Drake Scholarship
Justus Drake was a professor of English at Wake Forest for a number of years. He taught American and Victorian literature. His wife, Elizabeth, was the administrative assistant to President Scales. The Drakes’ sons were Wake Forest alums, and they set up this scholarship in their parents’ memory to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our rising senior majors.
Emily Crandall Shaw Scholarship in Liberal Arts
Emily Crandall Shaw and her husband Bynum Shaw, who was a professor of Journalism at Wake Forest, were Wake Forest alumni. After Mrs. Shaw’s death, Mr. Shaw set up this scholarship in her memory to recognize outstanding rising senior English majors who show talent in arts as well as in literary study.
Beulah Lassiter Raynor Scholarship
This award is named in honor of Beulah Lassiter Raynor, who taught in the English department from 1946 to 1979. The award has been endowed by her friends and former students, and recognizes outstanding rising senior majors from small towns in North Carolina.
Jerry B. & Callie Irene Stone Award Honoring Professor Alonzo Kenion
Alonzo “Al” Kenion taught at Wake Forest University from 1956 until 1983. He taught courses in 18th-century English literature and was a frequent teacher in our Interdisciplinary Honors program. The award is given to a student excelling in an English course formerly taught by Professor Kenion.
Robert N. Shorter Medieval Prize
Robert N. Shorter was the principal medievalist in the department of English for 41 years; he served as chair for three terms and associate graduate dean for four years. Professor Shorter was one of the founders of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies program and minor. He instituted the Medieval Studies Award in 1994 to recognize outstanding student achievement in all aspects of Medieval Studies and to encourage and support interdisciplinary work in the field. Professor Shorter specialized in Chaucer. His classes in Chaucer and in the Legend of Arthur were always packed with enthusiastic students. On his retiring in 1999, Professor Shorter gave a last Chaucer lecture and his closing words should be a lesson for all of us: “I never taught Chaucer; Chaucer taught me.” His legacy as an exemplary professor, colleague, and mentor is what we hope to uphold in the Wake Forest Medieval and Early Modern Studies program. The Medieval Studies Award was renamed the Robert N. Shorter Medieval Prize in 2003.
Bashir El-Beshti Prize in Renaissance Studies
The late Bashir El-Beshti was for many years one of the most beloved and esteemed members of our department. He was noted for his high standards in teaching and scholarship. A fund was established in his name to recognize distinguished students who fulfilled his ideals of learning.
Claudia Kairoff Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Service
Claudia Thomas Kairoff was a professor of eighteenth-century British literature at Wake Forest from 1986 until she retired in 2022. She was not only an award-winning teacher and nationally recognized scholar in her field, but also a model citizen and servant of the College during her long and distinguished career. She brought to every leadership role the same dedication, collaborative spirit, organizational skills, and attention to detail that characterized her work as a scholar. In 2023, the department established the Claudia Kairoff Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Service to recognize outstanding students who have made rich contributions to the life and spirit of the department.
Doyle Fosso Scholarship
Professor Doyle Fosso taught courses in Renaissance drama and poetry at Wake Forest from 1965 to 1995. He was a popular and excellent professor, and he was awarded the Reinhardt Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2000, nominated by his students from the class of 1990. After his death, an anonymous donor established the Doyle Fosso Scholarship in his honor.
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