Each year, outstanding honors students are recognized for their scholarly and community contributions. This year, six different students won honors awards, and a seventh was recognized for a Hart Student Achievement Award.

The Hart award is granted by the Moody College of Communication and recognizes “exceptional work in a communication field.” This year, honors student Teresa Ramos, majoring in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, was recognized for her contributions to the Lang Stuttering Institute and her Spanish and bilingual advocacy efforts.   

The annual awards for honors students include three for capstone projects, two for seniors and one for freshmen.

The first of the capstone awards is the Honors Thesis of Distinction, which went tosenior Journalism and Government major Zoe Tzanis. Zoe’s thesis, “Stand-Ins for Queer Visibility: Exploring German Sports Media Coverage of Queerness and LGBTQ+ Politics at the 2022 Men’s World Cup,” was recognized by her advisors and capstone instructor as a thesis of superior quality. 

“I was impressed throughout the year in working with Zoe,” wrote Dr. Michael Butterworth. Zoe’s “work ethic and attention to detail were outstanding, as is the final thesis. I’m especially impressed by the scope of the research, as well as Zoe’s ability to read and synthesize information. Zoe has produced a thesis on par with master’s level work I’ve seen.” 

The award for Honors Project of Distinction went to senior Advertising and Sociology major Christine Camarillo. The award recognizes an outstanding one-semester project from the honors capstone class. Christine’s project, “Grass Roots Trail Blazed: An Informational Zine Illustrating the Impact of Access to Green-Space on Health Inequities,” stood out for its engaging narrative and visual design, informative research, and the professional quality of the final report and zine. 

The final capstone award is Honors Reflection of Distinction, recognizing the top essay among students who enroll in COM 040 Honors Reflection for their capstone option. This year’s winner was Hannah Timmreck, a senior majoring in Communication Studies. 

“Hannah’s essay was not only a finely written tribute to friends and experiences in the honors program, but an insightful self-observation of personal and intellectual growth,” said Dave Junker, Honors Director and course instructor.

Two other annual awards are decided by nominations from faculty and students and typically go to seniors who have demonstrated a commitment to the classroom and community.

Senior Public Relations major Simi Sodipe brought home this year’s Socrates Award, which goes to a student who stood out for their contributions to dialogue in the classroom. Simi stood out throughout her four years in the program by asking interesting and challenging questions, making thoughtful points, offering important perspectives and for contributing to critical discourse in other ways.

The other senior prize is the Service and Citizenship Award, which went to Justin Lee, senior Advertising major and Honors Student Council President. This award goes to a student who stood out for their dedication to service, citizenship, and community engagement in the Honors Program and/or beyond it. Justin’s contributions included two years as an officer in the Honors Student Council

The final award of the season belongs to Josiah Jones, a freshmen in Communication and Leadership and member of the Jefferson Scholars Program. Josiah won the Top Life of the Mind Essay award, which recognizes the most outstanding final paper in the Introductory honors course, COM 307H Life of the Mind. 

Certificates for the Socrates, Service and Life of the Mind awards were presented at the annual honors reception, while capstone winners were announced at a later date.