Philip M. Hicks and Susan Snyder Essay Prizes
The Hicks prizes are endowed by friends of Philip M. Hicks, former Professor of English and Chairman of the Department of English Literature.
The Snyder prize is funded by the Department of English Literature in memory of Susan Snyder, distinguished Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature and Chairman of the Department.
MORE ABOUT THE SUSAN SNYDER PRIZE
Susan Snyder was a Renaissance scholar, and a valued teacher in the Department of English Literature at Swarthmore for 24 years. Her books include editions of A Winter’s Tale & All’s Well That Ends Well; an edited collection of essays on Othello; the monographs The Comic Matrix of Shakespeare’s Tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear, 1979; Pastoral Process: Spenser, Marvell, Milton, 1998; and Shakespeare: A Wayward Journey, a collection of essays published posthumously in 2002. The Snyder prize celebrates her dedication to the scholar’s life as a model for our students’ work in criticism.
2026 Philip M. Hicks Prize for Literary Criticism
Tabitha Parker-Theiss '26
2026 Susan Snyder Prize for Best Critical Essay by a First-Year Student
Sneba Grab '29
2025 Philip M. Hicks Prize for Literary Criticism
Brandon Archer '25
Spencer McQuaig '25
Honorable mention: Jake Zarak '27
2025 Susan Snyder Prize for Best Critical Essay by a First-Year Student
Hannah He '28
2024 Philip M. Hicks Prize for Literary Criticism
Harry Hou '25
Aryan Ashraf '25
Mika Prestowitz '24
2023 Philip M. Hicks Prize for Literary Criticism
Virginia Moscetti '23
Alexander del Greco '24
2023 Susan Snyder Prize for Best Critical Essay by a First-Year Student
Ezana Demissie '26
