Prestigious Sophie Kerr Prize Goes to Sky Abruzzo '25
The Virginia native will take home $74k prize for showing the most promise as a writer in this year’s crop of finalists.
As many have before them, a select group of seniors waited with bated breath this past Friday to hear the announcement of the winner of the 2025 Sophie Kerr Prize. Now in its 58th 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’s prize totaled just over $74,000.
When it was announced that Sky Abruzzo ‘25 had won, Hotchkiss Hall erupted in applause.
An English major with minors in creative writing and journalism, editing, and publishing, Abruzzo hails from Manassas, Virginia and has been serving as a senior editor at Spiteful Books since 2022. Abruzzo’s winning portfolio showcased creative and reflective writings exploring the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world. She read several logs she wrote about a plant she monitored over several months, a tribute to a magnolia dubbed Ruby Meryl.
"Sky's portfolio demonstrates her incredible ear for language, eye for imagery, and taste for editing," said Courtney Rydel, associate professor of English and chair of the English department at Washington College, who was part of judging panel. "Her sense of judgment is beyond her years, and her portfolio surprised us in the best of ways, as a gorgeous flowering of her potential for literary achievement."
A member of both the International English Honor Society and the Engineering Club, Abruzzo has managed to blend her literary talents with a knack for tinkering and enjoys working with both words and gears.
“There is a limpidity to Sky’s sentences that maps perfectly to her clarity of purpose,” said Roy Kesey, interim director of the Rose O’Neill Literary House and lecturer in the English department. “Her attention to, vulnerability within, and imagistic descriptions of the worlds (both human and natural) she inhabits are the hallmarks of someone with a very bright future as a writer.”
Among her many thanks to her professors and fellow finalists upon winning, she closed with a thanks to her parents who “made her great.”
Meet the Finalists
All six finalists read from their submitted portfolios at the ceremony. They hail from Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and California and included:
Riley Dauber '25, an English major with minors in creative writing; journalism, editing and publishing; and communications and media studies from West Reading, Pennsylvania.
Natalie Martinaitis '25, an English major with minors in creative writing and journalism, editing and publishing from Columbia, Maryland. Martinaitis had a novel published in her junior year.
Evan Merk '25, a biology and environmental science major from Fort Washington, Maryland.
Brionna Odell '25, an English major with a minor in journalism, editing and publishing from Baltimore, Maryland.
Lucy Verlaque '25, an English major with minors in creative writing; journalism, editing and publishing; and gender studies from Santa Clarita, California.
A Literary Prize as Unique as Washington:
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