Announcing the 2025 Creative Writing Prize Winners
By Allison Schneider
We are incredibly excited to announce the winners of this year’s creative writing prizes. The English Department extends enthusiastic congratulations to each of these students.
The Bernice Kilduff White & John J. White Creative Writing Prize:
Alessandra Smith
Alessandra Smith
Fordham College at Rose Hill senior, Alessandra Smith, is an English major with a creative writing concentration. Her short story “Yield to the Call of the Wild” won this year’s Bernice Kilduff White & John J. White Creative Writing Prize. Smith said she has always enjoyed writing horror stories because of how visceral and intense they can be. In this piece especially, Smith plays with the uncanny and the inhuman as her main character struggles, and fails, to suppress the beast within her. The winning piece is an excerpt of a much longer story she wrote for a writing class with Professor Gerardo Sámano Córdova, and it features interesting visual aspects like changes in font and formatting that enhance the story’s narrative. In addition to writing, Smith enjoys reading, painting, and petting cats.
Academy of American Poets Prize:
Adithi Vimalanathan
Adithi Vimalanathan
Adithi Vimalanathan is an Economics and English double major with a concentration in creative writing. She says her winning poem is about female lineage, learning, and shared experiences that are passed on through women’s bodies. Her piece also deals with sorrow and desire and was written with inspiration from the experiences of many South Asian women Vimalanathan grew up with. Recently, she has been reading works by Seamus Heaney and Justin Torres, who draw on artifacts of the past as they create new meanings from old stories. Outside of her writing practice, Vimalanathan is the managing editor of The Fordham Ram. She also enjoys long walks, live music, and good conversation.
Academy of American Poets Prize, Honorable Mention:
Leah Garritt
Leah Garritt
Leah Garritt, a Spanish Studies and English double major with a concentration in creative writing draws inspiration from other poets and writers including Ocean Vuong and Richard Siken. The poem she submitted to the prize, which she initially wrote for a class on Native American philosophies with Professor Judith Green, was inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer. When she isn’t writing, Garritt enjoys listening to music, going for walks outside, and experimenting with cooking. She has also submitted work to The Ampersand, a student-run literary magazine at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus.
The Reid Family Prize:
Paolo Liaci
Paolo Liaci
Paolo Liaci, an English major and journalism major from the class of 2027, is the 2025 recipient of the Reid Family Prize. Liaci wrote his award-winning piece, “My Year of Magical Thinking” while home for the summer. It gave him the space to reflect on his first year at college and the magic of New York City while drawing inspiration from other writers like Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion. Liaci is heavily involved in campus life and currently serves as president of the Fordham Walking Club, secretary of Fashion for Philanthropy, and also writes for publications like the paper.
The Margaret Lamb / Writing to the Right-Hand Margin Prize:
Ash Wang
Ash Wang
Ash Wang is a first-year student at Fordham University Lincoln Center and this year’s winner of the Margaret Lamb/Writing to the Right-Hand Margin Prize. Their short story investigates what would happen if plants had feelings, and how that would impact what everyday people eat, reflecting their deeper interest in veganism. In addition to writing, Wang is involved with costume and set design for Splinter Group, a musical theater group at Fordham Lincoln Center, and also works as an editor for Bricolage and The Comma, two literary journals run by Fordham Lincoln Center students. They are also part of the 309 Collective, a group of young poets and writers based in California, who work to uplift each other’s work.