May
25
A few of you know that I sponsor the Koa-Plumeria prizes. One is awarded to the best essay in an introductory English class while the other goes to the best work in CLU’s literary magazine Morning Glory. English department faculty judge the student works and make the selections.
This short article will explain the meaning of the name. I’m privileged to be able to offer these prizes, but I’m doing it for the students, not myself. I wanted the prize focus to be on the writing, not me, which is why I elected not to have them called the John Dillon Writing Awards or similar.
Since I grew up in Hawai’i, I tend to relate to items from my childhood, thus I chose to name the prizes with a flavor of my upbringing.
Koa is a hard wood, used for musical instruments and weapons, including edge weapons like war clubs.
Plumeria is a fragrant flowering tree whose beautiful petals exude a mildly irritating sap, such that you normally soak the flowers in cold water in the refrigerator overnight before threading them onto leis.
In summary, the idea of both prizes is to reward edgy works that employ musical language, and lovely, sweet writings that get under your skin.