Poet Eylie Sasajima awarded 2023 Sophie Kerr Prize

Washington College President Mike Sosulski presented the award during the May 19 ceremony. The award is given to a graduating senior at Washington College with the best promise for a future in literary endeavors. Other finalists included Queen Cornish, A.J. Gerardi, Sophia Rooks and Amara Sorosiak.

“I can’t express my gratitude in words, but I’ll try,” Sasajima said in her acceptance speech.

Sasajima, who is an English major with a triple minor in creative writing, journalism, editing, and publishing, and medieval and early modern studies, profusely thanked the English department faculty for fostering her writing.

Additionally, the winner thanked the editorial staff of Collegian, Washington College’s literary magazine, on which she served as the editor-in-chief for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Sasajima’s portfolio, titled “A Walk in the Sun,” contains poetry, creative nonfiction and her senior English thesis.

During the ceremony, the winner read two of her submitted poems: “Pennsylvania” and “H-Mart.” A native of Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, the poet explored themes of identity, geography and home in her reading.

“Looking toward a career in editing and publishing, something that I’m thinking a lot about is putting together manuscripts,” Sasajima said in a profile video posted to Washington College’s official Instagram page on Wednesday, May 17. “I write primarily poetry creatively, and I sort of use the portfolio as a trial run as to what it might be like to put together a manuscript in poetry.”

Sasajima’s reading followed the event’s keynote address, given by author Edward Ball. Currently, Ball is a writer in residence at Washington College as a Patrick Henry History Fellow at the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

In his address, Ball spoke about the struggles of establishing oneself as a young writer.

“The years of wandering and apprenticeship — they can hurt. They can break a person down and rearrange her or him, but the trick is clarifying, and it is worth all trouble. So, let me invite you to take a hike,” Ball said, encouraging the finalists to “wander the wilderness” of a career in writing.

In an interview after the ceremony, Sasajima said she felt as though Ball’s words reflected her own literary career at Washington College, which began when she attended the Cherry Tree Young Writers Conference in 2018.

“I think that sometimes hearing success stories from writers and hearing failure stories can be a real highs and lows kind of moment, but I think that (Ball) gave a really accurate portrayal of what the creative life can be like,” Sasajima said. “I said to him afterwards, ‘I’m so ready to wander in the wilderness.’”

Sasajima said she has both short-term and long-term goals upon graduating. When asked about what she planned on spending the prize money on, she said her first expense would be something smaller than what most expect.

“First, I probably need to fill up my gas tank to drive home,” Sasajima said.

Aside from gas money, the poet plans on putting her newfound winnings toward graduate school. She will continue to work at Alan Squire Publishing throughout the next year, but wants to apply to M.A. and MFA programs in the United States and abroad beginning in the fall.

In the closing words of her speech, Sasajima thanked her family for supporting her education, along with her home school district.

“Last but not least, I’d like to thank Spring Grove School District,” Sasajima said. “I was a little confused when my high school superlative was ‘Most Likely to Win Big Bucks,’ but I see now that there was some promise in that statement.”