Landerholm Frank, Williams Maintain DES Writing Streak

Sarah Landerholm Frank (’21) and Matthew Williams (’23) became the latest Loras College students to earn accolades for their writing in the 2021-22 Delta Epsilon Sigma National (DES) Undergraduate Writing Competition. This is the 29th-consecutive year that at least one Loras student has received first, second or honorable mention in at least one category.

Landerholm Frank earned second place in the category of Analytical Essay for her work titled “The Intersubjective Self: Biological Determinism & Identity in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.” The Rockton, Ill native’s essay was also the Alpha Award winner in the Scholarly Essay category of the 2021 Limestone Review.

“Sarah has been one of those amazing students who has excelled both as a literary scholar and as a creative writer,” Kevin Koch, Ph.D., professor of English, said. For her, these strengths feed off each other. She is a better writer because she deeply probes literary works. She is a better scholar because she understands the creative writing process. And her abilities to write and to dissect the written word will serve her well in whatever directions life takes her.”

Dubuque-native Williams tied for second place in in the poetry category with his poem “Elegy For My Grandfather.”

“Matthew is a remarkably talented young poet. His success with “Elegy for my Grandfather” is all the more remarkable since he wrote it in an introductory course. The poems by our students that have placed in the DES competition have nearly always been written by students in an advanced class, which Matthew is just taking now, so it bodes well for his work in the future. I couldn’t be more proud of him,” James Pollock, Ph.D., professor of English, said.

Students submit work each year to Loras College’s undergraduate writing publication, “The Limestone Review.” Faculty and student readers choose the best work in each category for the Alpha Award. Those winners then go on to compete in the DES writing competition. You can read the entire 2021 issue of The Limestone Review at loras.edu/limestonereview

Delta Epsilon Sigma was founded in 1938 at Loras College by the Rev. E.A. Fitzgerald as a Catholic honor society. As a result, the college became the first DES chapter in the nation.