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Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Six Mississippi State students recently received special awards for their participation in the university’s 2017-18 Maroon Edition essay contest.

The annual competition is sponsored by Maroon and Write, the university’s quality enhancement program to boost students’ writing skills. First-place winners received $500; second- and third-place, $300 and $100, respectively.

Essay subjects come from Maroon Edition, the annual common reading program for incoming ��ͷ�� freshmen. Upperclassmen and graduate students, along with faculty and staff members, also are encouraged to join in reading the selected book and participating in related activities.

New York Times best-selling author Wes Moore’s “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates” was both the reading selection and essay contest topic for the competition. Moore delivered the keynote address at Mississippi State’s 2017 Fall Convocation.

First-place winners read their essays at a celebratory luncheon at Mitchell Memorial Library.

Maroon and Write Co-Director Deborah Lee said all of this year’s winning essays will be archived and available for viewing in the ��ͷ�� Libraries’ Institutional Repository.

Freshman winners include:

FIRST—Nathaniel D. Roesener, an architecture major from Decatur, Alabama.

SECOND—Taelyr E. Harris of Hattiesburg, now a sophomore undeclared major concentrating in veterinary medical technology.

THIRD—Reily D. Tribble, a business administration major from D’Iberville.

Upperclassman winners include:

FIRST—Madeline E. Crow, a junior industrial engineering major from Kingsport, Tennessee.

SECOND—Haley N. Sandlin, a junior medical technology major from Baldwyn.

THIRD—Hunter B. Scoggins, a junior medical technology major from Pope.

For more about Maroon and Write, visit ; Maroon Edition, .

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