Prestigious Sophie Kerr Prize Goes to Jaya S. Basu'26

Maryland native whose work has already won national awards will take home $86k prize.

As is tradition at Washington College, students, faculty, parents, and community members packed Hotchkiss Hall ahead of commencement weekend to hear the announcement of the winner of the Sophie Kerr Prize. No stranger to accolades and early success, graduating senior Jaya Basu was announced as this year’s recipient.  

Now in its 59th year, the prize continues to be the nation’s largest literary award for a college student and totals more than the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award combined. This year the award totals $86,702. 

A theatre and English double major with a creative writing minor from Bethesda, Maryland, Basu submitted a portfolio containing poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and playwriting, and explored the forces of attraction that govern the universe and act on all bodies.  

"As a writer I pride myself on being very multi-disciplinarian,” they said of their submitted works. “I try to get my fingers in as many pies as possible and learn as much as I can. I tried with my portfolio to show how I can blur the lines between genres.” 

“Jaya’s writing combines erudition and urgency with beauty, surprise, ambition, and purpose,” said Sean Meehan, associate dean for curricular innovations and English department co-chair. “These aren’t traits that easily cohere for professional writers let alone undergraduates.”  

The committee noted their delight at the authority Jaya demonstrates in their writing across multiple genres, a talent that has already brought awards and accolades to the young writer. Basu’s poem “Romance of the Kitchen Sink” recently won the Spencer Undergraduate Poetry Award Sonnet Prize at West Chester University. Additionally, their original play “Mahamoha” is the co-recipient of the Nathan Louis Jackson Playwriting Award, second place recipient of the Paul Stephen Lim Playwright Award, and one of eight regional nominations for the National Partners of the American Theatre Julie Jenson Playwriting Award, all from American College Theatre Festival.  

“As with the best of the Sophie Kerr portfolios through the years, everyone on the committee was left wanting to read, hear, and see more,” Meehan continued of Basu’s submissions for the award. “For very good reason, the promise of Jaya’s future literary endeavors has already found an audience.” 

“Jaya's writing shows a willingness to explore, and an openness to inquiry. The questions have a moral courage to them: they seem to understand more than to know, to feel out uncomfortable truths more than to reconcile them,” commented James Allen Hall, director of the Washington College Rose O'Neill Literary House and associate professor of English. “In class, Jaya was always encouraging and supportive of other writers, giving honest but tactful feedback that honored the community of writers here at Washington. Jaya is a consummate writer who understands language's power to connect us, to make us feel less alone.” 

In taking the stage to accept their award, Basu thanked everyone who had supported them throughout the years, including the communities they'd been a part of across campus.  

“I feel as though I have grown so much in my time here and that’s in no small part because of the people here, including those on stage with me,” said Basu.  

“I stand here as one of very few people of color who have won this award at a predominately white institution,” they noted, emphasizing the difficulty that challenge posed at times. “All of my experiences have shaped me as a person. I’m proud of myself. Being able to be a part of this community and accept this award is so incredibly shaping and meaningful.” 

This year’s keynote speaker was Wiley Cash, a New York Times best-selling author versed in Southern history, mystery, and family drama, who is currently serving as Washington College’s Patrick Henry Fellow. In November 2025, Cash was the recipient of the 2025 North Carolina Award for Literature, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the state of North Carolina. The award, presented by Governor Josh Stein, recognizes his significant contributions to literature and his focus on Southern life. He is the author of four novels. His short stories and essays have appeared in the Oxford American, Garden & Gun, Our State Magazine, and other publications, and his fiction has been adapted for the stage and film.

Meet the Finalists 

All six finalists read from their submitted portfolios at the ceremony.  They hail from Maryland and New Jersey and included:  

Jove DiFiore Gleason, an English major from Silver Spring, Maryland, with minors in medieval and early modern studies and creative writing. His portfolio includes published and non-published works of poetry, flash fiction, creative non-fiction, and excerpts from a novella and his undergraduate thesis.  

 

Seth Horan, an English and communication and media studies double major with a double minor in creative writing and journalism, editing, and publishing from Frederick County, Maryland. His portfolio, Spring and Winter, includes four experimental short stories communing with the space between loneliness and morality.  

 

Evelyn Lee Lucado, an English major from Westminster, Maryland, with minors in creative writing and journalism, editing, and publishing. Their portfolio includes a collection of poems, prose, journalistic articles, and academic writing themed around young adulthood, grief, and family.  

 

Logan Monteleone, an English major with a minor in journalism, editing, and publishing from Upper Township, New Jersey. Her portfolio is a small collection of personal poems, many of which include metaphors on nature.  

 

 

Sheri Swayne, an English major and creative writing minor from Baltimore, Maryland. Her portfolio includes creative nonfiction pieces, critical essays, and spoken word poems centered around race and race topics. 

 

 

A Literary Prize as Unique as Washington College: 

A proud tradition of the College’s liberal arts education, the Sophie Kerr Prize is named for an early 20th century writer from the Eastern Shore of Maryland who published more than 20 novels and hundreds of short stories. In her will, Kerr left a generous bequest to the College with the stipulation that half of its annual proceeds fund a literary prize for a student. 

Open to all Washington College students from any major, the prize is awarded each year to the graduating senior who has the best ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor. In the past, it has been awarded for both creative and critical writing alike. A committee comprising full-time faculty in the English Department and the President review and make the final decision. Winners are chosen for their literary excellence, regardless of genre. A full list of Sophie Kerr Prize winners since its inception in 1968 is available online. 

In addition to the life-changing literary award, the support made possible by Sophie Kerr’s gift continues to fund experiences and offerings for Washington College students throughout the academic year. For more than 50 years the endowment has brought many of the nation’s top writers, editors, and scholars to Washington’s campus including Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Pinsky, Edward Albee, Joseph Brodsky, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, James McBride, Eamon Grennan, Charles Simic, and Jane Smiley. Funding scholarships and internships and enabling research in literature, writing, and publishing, round out the impressive impact made possible by the Sophie Kerr legacy.  

 

- Dominique Ellis Falcon