We are excited to announce the winners of the 2025 Fondren Library Awards for Undergraduate Literary Excellence.
The winner of the Larry McMurtry Prize in Fiction is Hope Yang.
The winner of the Max Apple Prize in Nonfiction is Karis Lai.
The winner of the Susan Wood Prize in Poetry is Chi Pham.
The winner of the Paul Otremba Prize in Literary Citizenship is Katherine Jeng.
Thank you to the Hobby Family whose generosity has funded these awards, to our Creative Writing faculty for your partnership, and to all the students who submitted their amazing writing.
Below are judges' citations for the creative writing awards. Each judge is an established professional writer in their genre, selected by our Creative Writing faculty.
Larry McMurtry Prize in Fiction
Hope Yang, "Flounder"
Morgan Talty writes: "'Flounder' is a story that listens more than it speaks. Through a voice full of memory, love, and silence, it trusts the reader to find meaning in the spaces between. It lingers, aches, and stays."
Max Apple Prize in Nonfiction
Karis Lai, "Insomnia"
Courtney Zoffness writes: "Three generations of Asian American women endure sleeplessness—and performative perfectionism. 'Insomnia' makes visceral how it feels to lie awake in the dark over decades and across cultures through writing that's as playful as it is incisive. It skillfully illuminates the underbelly of immigrant daughterhood and motherhood, and the cost of women denying their true humanity."
Susan Wood Prize in Poetry
Chi Pham
Sasha West writes: "These poems demonstrate the deepest kind of looking—and a belief that art can hold the poet’s questions as they explore traditions of culture, religion, family, and place. I admire the range of tone in the pieces and the vivid details that awaken the world, whether describing a choir practice—'The sopranos reach fever pitches. / their throats // glistening chambers / where God’s fist strikes to ring the bell of the body'—or a Houston landscape where 'a neighbor’s Lab pisses on azaleas, mistaking them for flames.' Pham pushes syntax and attention almost to their breaking point, until we end up inside of something new. These poems remind us how close mastery is to mystery as they slip between the two."
Paul Otremba Prize in Literary Citizenship
Katherine Jeng
Rice faculty judges write: This year’s awardee has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to fostering a vibrant and inclusive culture on our campus, and embodies Paul Otremba’s legacy of leadership, literary service, and community engagement. For her tireless dedication to the Rice campus and beyond, the awards committee is proud to present Katherine Jeng with this year’s Paul Otremba Award for Literary Citizenship.
Through two years as Editor-in-Chief of r2: The Rice Review, Katherine has worked to amplify diverse voices and artists whose work engages with today’s most pressing concerns. Her efforts to revive and restructure The Wild Grain further highlight her commitment to ensuring that students, faculty, and graduate students have meaningful opportunities to connect within the broader institutional landscape.
Beyond the page, Katherine has organized campus readings, author interviews, and off-campus literary outings. These initiatives have not only enriched Rice’s literary culture but also deepened its ties to the wider Houston community. As President of the English Undergraduate Association, Katherine has cultivated a welcoming and dynamic space for students across disciplines, leading writing workshops, career panels, and other events that promote an ethic of academic and artistic mutuality.
While many of Katherine’s contributions have been highly professional, just as much should be said for the more informal and personal moments of creativity and connection she has nurtured. Events like book swaps, late-night writing sessions over sushi, and friendship bracelet making may seem casual, but they remind us of the small gestures and quiet graces that a vibrant literary community needs to thrive.