Riverside, Calif. (April 26, 2016) – Melissa Chesney, a senior English major at California Baptist University, has been selected as the winner of the 2016 President's Award for Excellence in Writing. Dr. Ronald L. Ellis, CBU president, presented the award at a luncheon April 21.

Chesney wrote her paper, Keats, Greeks, and Beliefs: A Mythical Quest for Human Truth, for her senior capstone project. She explored the implications of English Romantic poet John Keats' presentations on human suffering and mortality, and attempted to tackle the question of Keats' understanding of spirituality.  

"The compassion and nuanced vision Melissa brings to her topic allow her to accurately and robustly describe Keats' struggle with … suffering without losing the tension and complexity of his philosophy and his art," wrote Dr. Gretchen Bartels, assistant professor of English for Online and Professional Studies, who was Chesney's instructor.

Chesney's award included a plaque, a certificate and a check for $500.

Two other students received runner-up honors.

Yvette Quintana, a graduate student in English, was awarded first runner-up for her paper, The Crux of the Matter in ‘The Lord of the Rings': On the Absence of an Incarnation in Middle-Earth. The paper examined theological principles that paralleled the incarnation of Jesus in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Quintana received a certificate and a check for $300.

Sarah N. Rodriguez, a sophomore English major, was recognized as second runner-up for her paper, Following Jesus: Flannery O'Connor's Inspiration for ‘Wise Blood.' The paper provided a detailed examination of how the novel Wise Blood reflects Jesus' challenges against the religious notions of first-century Judaism through parables. Rodriguez was awarded a certificate and a check for $200.

A six-member faculty selection committee using a formal voting process chose all winning entries.