ANN ARBOR—Great writers from around the world converged on the University of Michigan Friday as 36 U-M students shared $142,050 in prizes and became part of the legacy of Avery Hopwood.

Hopwood, who graduated from U-M a century ago and went on to become the most commercially successful playwright of the 1920s, began an endowment that became the Avery and Jude Hopwood Awards. The awards, the nation’s oldest such contest, have nurtured young fiction writers from Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Arthur Miller in the 1930s to current best selling novelist Elizabeth Kostova, who won her Hopwoods in 2003 and 2004.

The Hopwoods have also inspired related contests begun by others and administered by the Hopwood program. Total Hopwood contest prizes totalled $119,500 while the related contests awarded prizes of $25,550.

Past Hopwood winners such as Lawrence Kasdan, writer and director of” The Big Chill” were among the many past winners who returned to U-M to celebrate the Hopwood’s 75th anniversary. Many say the Hopwood was the first important public recognition of their writing talent, a tangible reward that kept them pursuing work as writers.

The awards were presented by Nicholas Delbanco, U-M’s Robert Frost Collegiate Professor of English and director of the Hopwood Program. Creative writing professor and author Charles Baxter delivered the Hopwood Lecture.

Local judges for the contests were: Debra Allbery, Steve Amick, Gorman Beauchamp, Frank Beaver, George Cooper, Michael Dickman, Sofia Galifianakis, Derek Green, Nicholas Harp, Joseph Heininger, Stephanie Ivanoff, the Kasdan Company, Lauren Kingsley, Aric Knuth, Deanne Lundin, Brenda Marshall, David Morse, Sharon Pomerantz, Lynne Raughley, Laura Roop, Laura Thomas, and Robert Whitman.

The celebration weekend, capping off a semester of Hopwood-related activities, also includes the University of Michigan Press’ release of a compendium of works by Hopwood Award-winning writers of note,” The Hopwood Awards: 75 Years of Prized Writing,” edited by Delbanco, Andrea Beauchamp and Michael Barrett, with an introduction by Delbanco.

Photos of Hopwood writers and copies of their works will be displayed in the windows of the Shaman Drum Bookshop for this event, and books by past Hopwood Award-winning authors included in the anthology will be available for signing by their authors.

The latest U-M student winners, who come from across the country and around the world, are listed by hometown:

MICHIGAN

Ann Arbor

Monamie Bhadra, Hopwood Undergraduate Essay, $3,500.

Brad Hughes, Hopwood Drama, $3,500.

Cyan James, Hopwood Graduate Essay, $5,500 and John Wagner Prize, $800.

Jon Liberzon, Hopwood Undergraduate Poetry, $7,000 and Paul and Sonia Handleman Poetry Award, $2,200.

Jennifer Metsker, Hopwood Graduate Poetry, $6,000 and the Helen S. and John Wagner Prize, $800.

Christina McCarroll, Leonard and Eileen Newman Writing Prize in Fiction, $1,000.

Derek Mong, Hopwood Graduate Essay, $3,000.

Phoebe Nobles, Hopwood Graduate Short Fiction, $3,000.

Erik Schielke, Hopwood Screenplay, $5,000 and Naomi Saferstein Literary Award,

$1,000.

Belleville

Alaina Schempp, Hopwood Screenplay, $4,000 and Leonard and Eileen Newman Prize in Dramatic Writing, $1,000.

Dearborn

Ann Marie Thornburg, Hopwood Undergraduate Poetry, $3,000.

Grand Rapids

Rachel Ann Harkai, Hopwood Undergraduate Essay, $2,000.

Kalamazoo

Michael Pifer, Hopwood Undergraduate Essay, $3,000.

Plymouth

Mary Gallagher Warbelow, Hopwood Undergraduate Short Fiction, $3,000 and Stanley S. Schwartz Prize, $500.

Sterling Heights

Bryan Kelly, Hopwood Novel, $2,500.

Swarz Creek

Ryan K. Jory, Hopwood Undergraduate Short Fiction, $3,000.

Washington

Margaret LeDuc, Hopwood Undergraduate Essay, $3,000.

Wyandotte

Carlin Danz, Hopwood Undergraduate Short Fiction, $7,000 and Robert F. Haugh Prize, $2,200.

Wyoming

Laura Hunsberger, Hopwood Undergraduate Essay, $2,000.

Outside Michigan

GEORGIA

Gainesville” Ashley David, Hopwood Graduate Essay, $3,000.

ILLINOIS

Northbrook” Mike Rudin, Hopwood Novel, $5,000.

KENTUCKY

Louisville” Sara Grace Willihnganz, Hopwood Undergraduate Poetry, $2,500.

MAINE

Bangor” K.C. Trommer, Meader Family Award, $1,500.

MINNESOTA

Minneapolis” Brittani Sonnenberg, Hopwood Drama, $2,000.

NEW YORK

New York” Tania Strauss, Arthur Miller Award of the University of Michigan Club of New York Scholarship Fund, $2,000 tuition credit.

OHIO

Cleveland” Celeste Ng, Hopwood Graduate Short Fiction, $7,000 and Andrea Beauchamp Prize, $800.

Perrysburg” Elizabeth Mitchell, Theodore Roethke Prize for the Long Poem or Poetic Sequence, $5,000.

PENNSYLVANIA

Narbeth” Ariel Djanikian, Hopwood Graduate Essay, $3,500 and Chamberlain Award for Creative Writing, $2,600.

Williamsport” Brandon Hall, Hopwood Screenplay Contest, $3,000 and Kasdan Scholarship in Creative Writing, $5,500.

TEXAS

Austin” Karyna McGlynn, Hopwood Graduate Poetry, $6,000.

Kemah” Joshua Edwards, Meader Family Award, $1,500.

UTAH

Salt Lake” Britta Ameel, the Meader Family Award, $1,500.

WASHINGTON

Seattle” Taemi Lim, Hopwood Drama, $3,500.

WISCONSIN

Ashland” Mika Perrine, Hopwood Graduate Short Fiction, $3,000.

Winners from outside the United States.

Antipolo, Philippines

Peter Zaragoza Mayshle, Hopwood Drama, $3,500.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Preeta Samarasan, Hopwood Novel, $6,000, Geoffrey James Gosling Prize,

$650 and Hopwood Graduate Short Fiction, $2,000.

Related Links:

• For more on the anniversary weekend

• The Hopwood Program

• More about Baxter

U-M Press