Surgam

The Philolexian Foundation

In service to the Philolexian Society of Columbia University · Founded MDCCCII

Administered by the English Department

The Philolexian Prize

Awarded annually by Columbia College's English Department for fiction, essays, memoirs, poetry, plays, film scripts, or translations by an undergraduate. Lineage to the 1852 semi-centennial fund.

The Philolexian Prize traces back to the prize fund alumni raised at the Society's 1852 semi-centennial — more than $1,300 endowed annual prizes in Oratory, Debate, and Essay. Those original awards eventually merged, and since the 1950s the consolidated Philolexian Prize has been administered by Columbia College's English Department on the Society's behalf.

The Prize accepts submissions in a generous range of forms: fiction, essays, memoirs, poetry, plays, film scripts, and literary translations. Selection is by faculty committee. The Prize is announced at the College's annual end-of-year ceremonies; the Society sends a delegation.

Cadence

Annual

Eligibility

Columbia College undergraduates

Prize

$3,000

Administered by

Columbia English Department

Recent Recipients

YearRecipientFor
2026Bess Blackburn, CC '27 & Daksha Pillai, CC '27Joint award
2025Clara Noggle, CC '28Companion to Gabriel Uceda-Sosa's Centennial Washington Prize the same year
2024Kathryn Lee, CC '25 & Marino Bubba, CC '24Joint award
2023Sang Yun Jee, CC '24 & Jing Yan Ye, CC '23Joint award
2022Sang Yun Jee, CC '24 & Ashley Yung, CC '24Joint award
2021Katherine Chen, CC '24Also recipient of the Centennial Washington Prize
2020Alessandra Allen, CC '20 & Seowon Lee, CC '22Joint award
2019John Shelby Street, CC '20 & Catherine Clement, CC '20Joint award
2018Julian Pecht, CC '21
2017Bindu Bansinath, CC '18
2016Serena Solin, CC '16
2015Serena Solin, CC '16
2014Kailee Pedersen, CC '17 & Serena Solin, CC '16Joint award · Pedersen for “Mythopoetics”
2013Yanyi Luo, CC '13“56th Battalion No Survivors” · also awarded the Brownstein Prize
2012Krupa Harishankar, CC '12
2011Nicholas Yoke Hin Wong, CC '11
2010Rebecca Kutzer-Rice, CC '12
2009Daniel Feldman, CC '09
2008Shaday Stewart, CC '09 & Hannah Assadi, CC '08Joint award
2007Katarzyna Kozanecka, CC '07
2006Liesl M. Yamaguchi, CC '06
2005Esinam Bediako, CC '05
2004Eric Linsker
2003Nikil Saval, CC '05
2002Paul Kiel, CC '02
2001Fallon Scoggins, CC '03
2000Melanie Kain, CC '00 & Lara Weibgen, CC '02Joint award
1997Lauren Grodstein, CC '97
1996Molly Pascal, CC '96Poetry · per mollypascal.com bio
2009William RubelWriting · Columbia College BA (summa cum laude); later PhD, University of British Columbia · per Playwrights Guild of Canada bio · year provisional
…1953–1996 recipients are held in the Columbia University Archives and are being catalogued.
c. 1980–84Gary T. Baker, CC '84
1955–1989 · writer; editor of LAN (Local Area Network) magazine		Fiction · Won both the Philolexian Prize and the Philolexian Centennial Prize for fiction, per his CCT obituary (v.28, Fall 1989)
1946, 1947, 1948Allen Ginsberg, CC '48Won the Philolexian Prize three consecutive years
1945Richard LincolnPoetry · Columbia Review editor; later SVP of the Alan Guttmacher Institute; d. 2016, age 91
1939Barry Jacob Ulanov, CC '39 · Robert Shellow Gerdy, CC '39Poetry (Ulanov) · Prose (Gerdy) · The New York Times, June 6, 1939
1938Eugene Williams, CC '38 · Ralph de Toledano, CC '38Prose (Williams, “The Elements of Jazz”) · Poetry (de Toledano, “Primavera”) · Columbia Daily Spectator, June 1, 1938
1928W. Bradford Smith, CC '30Poetry · cited in Columbia Daily Spectator, April 29, 1929 (election notice naming Smith as 1928 prize winner and active Boar's Head member)
1927Jacques M. Barzun, CC '27 · Edward G. Conklin, CC '28 · Harold C. Brown, CC '28Essay (Barzun, “Transition or Creation”) · Poetry (Conklin, “Creon and Ismene”, blank verse) · Short Story (Brown, “When I was Gilles de Retz”, published in Varsity) · The New York Times, May 17, 1927
1926Jacques M. Barzun, CC '27 · Frederic W. Case, CC '27 · Victor A. Lemaitre, CC '25Essay (Barzun, “Obiter Dicta”) · Short Story (Case, “The Borough of Brill”) · Poetry (Lemaitre, “Nocturne: Paris”) · Columbia Daily Spectator, May 17, 1926
1923Henry Morton Robinson, Jr., CC '23 · J. Warner Bellah, Jr., CC '23 · William Morris Stahl, CC '24Essay (Robinson) · Short Story (Bellah) · Poetry (Stahl) · Columbia Daily Spectator, May 28, 1923
c. 1920sRobert Turney, CC '22Won the Prize three times for short stories and poems
1911–12A. W. Macmahon '12 · J. L. Ellenwood '13 · A. H. Cawston '14 · Randolph S. Bourne '12 · Gove Hambidge '13Oratory 1st (Macmahon, pro merita) · Debate 1st & 2nd · Essay 1st & 2nd
1910–11A. W. Macmahon '12 · D. R. Fox '11 · W. N. Ross '11Oratory (Centennial and Philolexian combined; Macmahon 1st) · Essay 1st (Fox) & 2nd (Ross) · Debate: no award
1909–10D. R. Fox '11 · Leon Fraser '10 · A. W. Macmahon '12 · D. S. Townsend '10 · Geddes Smith '10Oratory 1st (Fox) & 2nd (Fraser) · Debate 1st (Macmahon) & 2nd (Townsend) · Essay 1st (Smith) & 2nd (Townsend)
1908–09McAlister Coleman '09 · Winston Paul '09 · D. S. Townsend '10 · Geddes Smith '10 · Leon Fraser '10 · W. H. Sellew '09Debate 1st (Coleman) & 2nd (Paul) · Essay 1st tied (Townsend & Smith), 1st (Fraser), 2nd (Sellew)
1907–08McAlister Coleman '09 · Winston Paul '09 · G. B. Compton '09 · A. Joyce Kilmer '08 · Geddes Smith '10Oratory 1st (Coleman) & 2nd (Paul) · Debate 1st tied (Compton & Kilmer) · Essay 1st (Smith) & 2nd (Kilmer)
1906–07A. Joyce Kilmer '08 · F. A. Higgins '08 · Winston Paul '09 · V. K. Wellington Koo '09Oratory 1st (Kilmer), 2nd (Higgins), 3rd (Paul) · Debate 1st (Koo) & 2nd (Higgins) · Essay: no award
1905–06C. L. Williams '06 · P. B. Tripp '06 · W. M. Schwarz '07 · W. B. Devoe '06 · W. R. Porter '06Oratory 1st (Williams), 2nd (Tripp), 3rd (Schwarz) · Debate 1st (Williams) & 2nd (Schwarz) · Essay 1st (Devoe) & 2nd (Porter)
1904–05A. E. Maves '06 · W. R. Porter '06 · H. L. R. Thomas '05 · C. L. Williams '06Oratory 1st (Maves), 2nd (Porter), 3rd (Thomas) · Debate 1st (Williams) & 2nd (Porter) · Essay: no award
1903–04R. R. Loening '04 · G. W. Tucker, Jr. '05 · A. M. Davis '04 · M. F. Lawton '04Oratory 1st (Loening), 2nd (Tucker), 3rd (Davis) · Debate 1st tied (Lawton & Tucker) · Essay: no award
1902–03G. H. Butler, Jr. '03 · R. R. Loening '04 · M. C. Ansorge '03 · M. F. Lawton '04Oratory 1st (Butler), 2nd (Loening), 3rd (Ansorge) · Debate 1st (Lawton) & 2nd (Ansorge) · Essay: no award
1901–02M. C. Ansorge '03 · B. H. Ridder '03 · A. L. Strasser '03Oratory 1st (Ansorge), 2nd (Ridder), 3rd (Strasser) · Debate 1st (Strasser) & 2nd (Ridder) · Essay: no award
1900–01G. H. Butler, Jr. '03 · J. T. Williams '01 · M. H. Cardozo '01 · Pendleton Dudley '03Oratory 1st (Butler), 2nd (Williams), 3rd (Cardozo) · Debate 1st (Williams) & 2nd (Dudley) · Essay: no award
1899–1900M. J. France '00 · A. Gross '03L · S. A. Telsey '03 · G. H. Butler, Jr. '03 · S. Strunsky '00 · Philip Coan '00 · C. S. Forbes '01Oratory 1st (France), 2nd (Gross), 3rd (Telsey) · Debate 1st (France), 2nd tied (Butler & Strunsky) · Essay 1st (Coan) & 2nd (Forbes)
1931John Burke, CC '32 · Stanley Matheson Brown, CC '31 · James George Leippert, CC '33Philolexian Centennial Prize (Burke) · Short Story (Brown) · Poetry (Leippert) · Columbia Daily Spectator, June 2, 1931
1885R. C. Kemp, CC '85 · Lincoln G. McCormack, CC '86 · Edward L. Patterson, CC '86Oratory (April 2 contest), 1st (Kemp) · 2nd (McCormack) · 3rd (Patterson) · Judges: Prof. Price, Mr. Mills, Mr. Bull · Columbia Daily Spectator, April 15, 1885
1885John V. Bouvier, Jr., CC '86 · Edward McK. Whiting, CC '87 · J. G. Baldwin, Jr., CC '85 · Temple Bowdoin, CC '85Oratory (Mills & Bull $50 prize, March 26 contest at Mott Memorial Hall), 1st Bouvier (“Despotism vs. Monarchy”) · 2nd Whiting (“The Danger that Threatens us”) · competitors: Baldwin (“An Appeal for a Navy”), Bowdoin (“Pleasures”) · Judges: Henry M. Mills, Robt. M. Bull, Prof. E. M. Smith · Columbia Daily Spectator, April 1, 1885
1880L. F. Messer, CC '82 · J. B. Nies, CC '82Prize Essay on “England's Responsibility for the Condition of Ireland” · 1st (Messer) · 2nd (Nies) · Judge: Dr. Quackenbos · Columbia Daily Spectator, April 20, 1880
…1852–1898 recipients are recorded in the Society minute-books; being catalogued from the Columbia University Archives.