Write. Revise. Submit.
Submissions are due by 5:00 p.m. on March 17th, 2026.
Purpose: To provide an award to a UAF Student for creative writing in a broad Alaska field.
Eligibility: Open to UAF undergraduate or graduate students.
Submission Rules: Upload one nonfiction piece that pertains to Alaska.
Amount: $500
Harold McCracken (1894-1983)
Harold McCracken was an American explorer, writer, naturalist, filmmaker, and museum director who celebrated wilderness, nature and history through his explorations, especially explorations in Alaska. At a time when few people could travel to the far North, McCracken’s books and articles introduced a broad audience to the frontier through vivid narratives and imagery.
If you'd like to learn more about Harold McCracken, here are some great resources!
Published Works by Harold McCracken
- Roughnecks and Gentlemen: Memoirs of a Maverick
- Available at the UAF Rasmuson Library and Noel Wien Public Library
- Beyond the Frozen Frontier
- Available at the UAF Rasmuson Library (*it is considered a rare material; you'll need to ask about it at the front desk*)
- The Beast That Walks Like Man: The Story of the Grizzly Bear
- Available at the UAF Rasmuson Library through Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
- Sentinel of the Snow Peaks
- Available at the UAF Rasmuson Library (*it is considered a rare material; you'll need to ask about it at the front desk*) and Noel Wien Public Library (*In-library use only*)
Purpose: To provide an award based upon an essay written by a student for an upper division
literature course offered by the UAF Department of English.
Eligibility: The student must be a UAF Sophomore, Junior, or Senior in good academic standing
(GPA of 2.0 or above).
Submission Rules: Submit an essay that was written in an upper-level division (300, 400, or 600 level)
literature course within the UAF English Department during the Spring, Summer, or
Fall semester of 2025 or Spring of 2026.
Amount: $200
Minnie E. Wells (1905–1997)
Minnie E. Wells was a distinguished English professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she taught from 1945 until her retirement in 1971 and was later named Professor of English Emeritus. Her specialization was Medieval English language and literature, particularly Chaucer, and she also developed a deep interest in early Alaska literature.
Born in 1905 in Denison, Texas, to Oscar A. and Mayme Wells, Minnie came to Alaska at age four with her mother to join her father in Fairbanks. After a brief time in Alaska, her family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Missouri in 1925, pursued graduate studies at Bryn Mawr College, and conducted research in England before earning her PhD from New York University in 1938.
Before joining UAF, Dr. Wells held teaching positions at Southeastern State College (Oklahoma), the University of Tulsa, Hood College (Maryland), and Ward Belmont College (Tennessee). At UAF, she taught both composition and literature courses, including for returning World War II veterans and self-supporting Alaskan students. She served in numerous administrative roles—department head, dean of faculty, and division head of Arts and Letters—and was instrumental in initiating graduate study in English literature at the University.
Dr. Wells retired in 1971 and spent her later years in Wasilla, Sequim, Port Angeles, and Fox Island/Gig Harbor, Washington. She passed away on March 18, 1997, and her ashes were returned to Wasilla to rest near those of her sister, Elizabeth Suckling.
Note on source: This biography is based on an unsigned departmental document of unknown authorship, supplemented with historical records from the University of Alaska Foundation. While the information is believed to be accurate, it reflects the Department’s historical understanding and may not be complete. If you have additional details or corrections, we'd love to hear from you. Contact uaf-english-dept@alaska.edu. Thank you.
Unsigned departmental document of unknown authorship on the life of Minnie E. Wells
Purpose: To provide tuition grants to sophomore or junior students majoring in English at
the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Eligibility: The student must be a full-time Sophomore or Junior majoring in English.
Submission Rules: There are three documents required:
- One letter describing your educational goals.
- One letter of recommendation from a faculty member.
- One creative or academic writing piece no longer than 25 pages.
Amount: Up to $5,000 in tuition reimbursement.
Caroline Musgrove Coons (1907-1999)
Caroline Musgrove Coons and her husband, Ronald, came to the territory of Alaska in 1944 from Massachusetts to work for the Weather Bureau in Wales and on Saint Lawrence Island. According to her contribution to the Alaska Pioneer's Book, she was a teacher and principal at the local elementary school in Nome, AK in the early 1950's. While in Nome, she adopted and raised taught daughters. Coons received a Master's in Education from the University of Alaska in 1963. In 1969, she retired in Homer, AK.
Coons loved the wildlife of Alaska. She enjoyed painting, traveling, and writing. She was known for walking local beaches every day with her dogs. According to her estate executors, Caroline had a deep interest in protecting animal habitat and felt that Kachemake Heritage Land Trust was on the right track.
After a full and active life, Caroline Coons died on January 11th, 1999 at the age of 92. As a result of some very wise investments over the years, she was able to make several large bequests to institutions and organizations that she cared about.
This scholarship was established in 1999 by a bequest from her estate to encourage students to become better writers.
Source: UA Foundation
Purpose: To provide an annual award for the English Department's literary criticism contest.
Eligibility: Open to UAF undergraduate or graduate students.
Submission Note: The writing piece can be from an upper-division or graduate-level literary course
taken at UAF from the Spring, Summer, or Fall of 2025, or Spring 2026.
Amount: $200
E.L. Bartlett (1904-1968)
Edward Lewis "Bob" Bartlett was born in Seattle, Washington on April 20, 1904.
Senator Bartlett attended the University of Washington from 1922 to 1924 and the University of Alaska from 1924 to 1925. He graduated from the University of Alaska in 1925. He was a reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News from 1933 to 1934. Senator Bartlett also worked as a gold miner in Alaska from 1936 to 1939. He was the chairman of the Unemployed Compensation Commission of Alaska from 1937 to 1939.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him as secretary of Alaska, and he served there until 1944 when he became a candidate for Delegate to Congress. Senator Bartlett was also a member of the Alaska War Council from 1942 to 1944 and president of the Alaska Tuberculosis Association.
He served as Alaska's Territorial Delegate to Congress from 1945 to 1959. Senator Bartlett introduced the Alaska Statehood Act, which Congress successfully passed and was signed into legislation in 1958.
He was Alaska's first U.S. senator from Alaska's induction into the Union in 1959 until his death in 1968. Senator Bartlett was "Alaskan of the Year" in 1968.
A bronze statue of Senator Bartlett was erected in the U.S. Capitol Building's Statuary Hall in 1971. Alaskans remember Senator Bartlett fondly. Bartlett Glacier on the Kenai Peninsula, Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Alaska, and Bartlett Residence Hall at the University of Alaska Fairbanks bear his name.
Senator Bartlett died December 11th, 1968 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Sources: UA Foundation and UAF Centennial
An article from the UAF Sun Star about Bartlett's daughter, Doris Ann Bartlett, who taught in the English Department
Eligibility: Open to all UAF undergraduate students
Amount: $100
Eligibility: Open to all UAF undergraduate students
Amount: $100
Eligibility: Open to all UAF undergraduate students
Amount: $100
Derick Burleson (1963-2016)
Derick Burleson, 53, was born to Warren and Edith (Weigand) Burleson on September 9, 1963, and passed away at his home in Fairbanks, Alaska, after a lengthy and unknown illness.
Derick grew up in Cherokee, OK, attending and graduating Cherokee High School in 1981, where he excelled in speech, FFA, football and track.
He earned a Degree in Journalism from OSU in Stillwater, OK, a Masters Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Montana, in Missoula, Montana, a Masters in Advanced English at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, and a Doctorate in both Advanced English and Creative Writing at the University of Houston, TX.
He spent nearly two years in Rwanda, Africa, teaching advanced English to University students preparing to come to the United States to obtain a higher education. He returned to the United States when civil war broke out and became perilous in Rwanda.
He received several awards for many of his writings, including the very prestigious Felix Pollack writing award. He had four books and several papers and poems published. He taught Creative Writing and Advanced English as a tenured professor for the past fifteen years at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Although he loved teaching and writing, his true passion was for his daughter, Mirabel, along with hunting and fishing and the great Alaskan outdoors.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Edith; grandparents Jacob (Jake) and Edna Weigand; and grandparents Clyde and Bertha Burleson.
Survivors include his daughter, Mirabel, of the home; father and stepmother, Warren and Meron Burleson, of Cherokee, OK; sister, Gina and husband Cam Pekrul, of Goltry, OK; niece and nephew, Jennifer and Jacob Pekrul, of Goltry, OK; a host of aunts, uncles, cousins; and a multitude of friends.
In lieu of flowers, there has been a tax-deductible education fund set up for his daughter, Mirabel, with The Pioneer Spirit Foundation at the Farmers Exchange Bank in Cherokee, OK, for donations. There will be a memorial at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks at a later date due to the winter darkness in AK.
Source: Enid News & Eagle
Published Works by Derick Burleson
- Ejo: Poems, Rwanda, 1991-94 (won the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry)
- Available at the UAF Rasmuson Library and Noel Wien Public Library
- Never Night: Poems
- Available at the UAF Rasmuson Library and Noel Wien Public Library
- Melt
- Available at the UAF Rasmuson Library
2024-2025 Contest Winners
Thank you to all the students who participated in this year’s English Department annual writing contests. We are proud of every student who submitted a piece and shared their voice. A special congratulations to the students whose pieces were selected as winners - well done!
Northern Lights Nonfiction Essay Contest - Graduate Category
Rachel McKinley, Entomophobia
(3rd Year MFA Creative Writing)
Harold McCracken Award for Outstanding Writing About Alaska and the North Country
Contest
Maggie May, It’s Okay, Nobody Knows We’re Out Here
(1st Year MFA/MA Creative Writing & Literature)
Minnie E. Wells Award in Literary Criticism Contest
Malinda VanLoo, The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Not a Model, but a Mirror
(Junior)
Farthest North Fiction Contest - Undergraduate Category
Margaret “Sarah” Thomas, Rapture
(Senior)
Farthest North Fiction Contest - Graduate Category
Tim Ott, Heavyweight Cheater
(3rd Year MFA Creative Writing)
Derick Burleson Poetry Contest - Graduate Category
Tim Ott, Umusarani
(3rd Year MFA Creative Writing)
E.L. Bartlett Contest for Literary Criticism
Ayden Harris, “Please, Don’t Do Unto Us!”: The Nonbinary as Agent of Invasion of Empire in Victorian
Gothic Literature
(2nd year MFA/MA Creative Writing & Literature)