Dukes, Alpha Omega Memorial Promising Fiction Writer Award
The Alpha Omega Dukes Memorial Promising Fiction Writer Award was established by Thomas Dukes, a University of Akron English department faculty member, in memory of his father’s only sister, his aunt Alpha Omega Dukes. Omega Dukes lived and worked in Washington, D.C., for the Department of the Navy. Her hair turned white in her early twenties; she had olive skin and blue eyes, and taught her nephew early on about long-distance love and the importance of spoiling children just a little bit. She died prematurely in her early fifties, but not before her nephew got to spend two weeks one summer with her, a time he will never forget.
Thomas Dukes is Professor of English at the University of Akron. He received his B.A. and M.A. from The University of Texas at El Paso (creative writing) and his Ph.D. from Purdue University (modern literature). He has published poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, scholarship, and a memoir. Because of the prizes he received for his writing as a student, Tom has established several such awards for the Department of English at The University of Akron in honor of those he loves.
The Alpha Omega Dukes Memorial Promising Fiction Writer Award is open to graduate and undergraduate students and will be given for a short story. The short story will be chosen by a committee of faculty from the Department of English; its decision is final. The committee will be appointed by the English Department’s Chair, it may choose a story submitted for any other of the contests of the English Department or one submitted specifically for this prize. The recipient will receive a check for $75.00.
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