Sand Shark English Students are Honored with Writing Awards
In addition to awards presented by University of South Carolina Beaufort to outstanding English majors, current USCB students and recent graduates have received national recognition for their writing.
USCB Student Selected for The Watering Hole Writers' Retreat
USCB English major, Gullah poet and novelist Edra Stephens has been selected as a manuscript fellow for prestigious writers’ workshop The Watering Hole. She is the first USCB student to be chosen for this honor. The Watering Hole hosts the only Southern writing retreat for poets of color and draws 50-60 poets to the event each year. Stephens, who grew up on Hilton Head Island, will bring to the group selected poems and a section of her first novel, Born White, Dying Black.
USCB Alumna is Published Novelist
Alexis Henderson (English, Class of 2020) is the author of two horror novels published by Ace, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The Year of the Witching was a Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist. Her second book, House of Hunger, was published in 2022. Both are available on Amazon and the publisher's website.
The Tombe/Eby Award honors
Dr. Sheila J. Tombe and Dr. Carl P. Eby
Each spring, the Department awards the Tombe/Eby Award for Outstanding English Major. This university-level academic award recognizes the outstanding graduating senior in English who has maintained a strong GPA within the university and the major, and whose written work and participation inside and outside the classroom are recognized for excellence.
Dr. Sheila J. Tombe was an associate professor at the University of South Carolina Beaufort (USCB) where she taught Shakespeare. She was the recipient of the 2006-07 SC Arts Commission Poetry Fellowship and edited a journal of the arts. She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and has studied in Scotland, Spain and the U.S. She has also taught English in Spain and Spanish in Japan. Her poetry has been published in various publications, and she received the first Gival Press Prize for poetry in Spanish.
Dr. Carl P. Eby was a former professor at the University of South Carolina Beaufort (USCB) and the author of several scholarly articles on Hemingway. He was named USCB's Professor of the Year twice and received the South Carolina Governor's Distinguished Professor Award. He now teaches at Appalachian State University.
Past Winners
- 2024: Alex Clark
- 2023: Edra Stephens
- 2022: Vanessa Diaz
- 2021: Ashley Lockard
- 2020: Amanda Mazeika
- 2019: Shannon McAleer
- 2018: Robert Raley
- 2017: Hayley Edwards
- 2016: Brenda Hill
- 2015: Charles Taylor Johnson & Maribeth Stone
- 2014: Alyse Bingham & Scott DeRouen
- 2013: Matt Piscitello & Kyree Whitehead
- 2012: Stefny Ankney & Luke Kerr-Dineen
- 2011: Reid Kirkpatrick & Lindsey Upton
- 2010: Joe Vermilyea
- 2009: Megan Summers
- 2008: Heather Denardo
- 2007: Rebecca Varicak
- 2006: James McTeer
- 2005: Jennifer Hampton & James Frazier