1975: Gayle Ridinger--Our Very First Firley Winner
For the last 30 some years, she has lived in northern Italy ( Milan). Besides teaching English and Italian/ English translation at an Italian university, Gayle has had several books published, ranging from a children's book A STAR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, to novels like THE SHADOW WIFE and ( the prize winning)THE SECRET PRICE OF HISTORY, set in Italy and America.
THE SECRET PRICE OF HISTORY is a tale-in the present and the past-about the selfless and the greedy. An enigmatic treasure hunt marred by violence over the centuries is the link between a modern–day detective story concerning Angie Cebrelli, a young American TV weather girl, and the gripping political and social upheaval of the second half of the 1800s as faced by Eleonora Serlupi, a rebellious Roman woman (Angie’s ancestor) and her two best friends, Sandor and Goffredo, part of the idealistic generation who fought for liberty and country in the Italian Risorgimento and the American Civil War.
THE SECRET PRICE OF HISTORY is a tale-in the present and the past-about the selfless and the greedy. An enigmatic treasure hunt marred by violence over the centuries is the link between a modern–day detective story concerning Angie Cebrelli, a young American TV weather girl, and the gripping political and social upheaval of the second half of the 1800s as faced by Eleonora Serlupi, a rebellious Roman woman (Angie’s ancestor) and her two best friends, Sandor and Goffredo, part of the idealistic generation who fought for liberty and country in the Italian Risorgimento and the American Civil War.
1976: Jane Kobilak Keefe
Jane's resume list includes freelance court reporter, working in the insurance field with an agency, and starting and running a small pet-sitting business for five years. She is now retired with her husband John of 33 years. They are the proud parents of one son, Thomas. Her volunteer activities center around animals.
Jane wrote in a June 2019 message, "Ms. Helen McConnell, our journalism teacher and newspaper staff adviser, encouraged me to serve on the paper. When I expressed doubt that I'd contribute very much a fellow student (Bob Gibson), told me that we were all in the same boat in being inexperienced, which helped me decide to give it a shot. The Castle on the Hill was a beautiful school, providing so much daily exercise in stair climbing. For art students it offered various views and scenes for drawing and painting landscapes."
Jane wrote in a June 2019 message, "Ms. Helen McConnell, our journalism teacher and newspaper staff adviser, encouraged me to serve on the paper. When I expressed doubt that I'd contribute very much a fellow student (Bob Gibson), told me that we were all in the same boat in being inexperienced, which helped me decide to give it a shot. The Castle on the Hill was a beautiful school, providing so much daily exercise in stair climbing. For art students it offered various views and scenes for drawing and painting landscapes."
1977: Ed Rhodes
Edward Rhodes is a student of American foreign and national security policy. Prior to joining Mason in 2010 as Dean of the School of Public Policy, Dr. Rhodes was on the faculty of Rutgers University, serving as founding Director of the Rutgers Center for Global Security and Democracy and as Dean of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. He has held research or teaching appointments at Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, and Cornell Universities, and, as a Fulbright Fellow, at the University of Latvia. Inter alia, his government activities have included service in the Strategy and Concepts branch of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, on the State Department’s Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation (the Congressionally-mandated body overseeing the preparation and release of the official record of American foreign policy), and on a number of State and Commerce Department promotion boards. Dr. Rhodes received his A.B. from Harvard University and his M.P.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
1978: Kimberly Peterson
Information forthcoming.
1979: Mark Walsh
Information Forthcoming
1980: Susan Gorman
Information forthcoming.
1981: Carol Ortmann
Information forthcoming.
1982: Julie Hutchcroft
Information forthcoming.
1983: Linda Downing Miller
English was her favorite subject at Glenbard. In a June 2019 email, Linda wrote, "I can tell you the names of my English teachers those four years. Their encouraging comments about my writing no doubt influenced my career direction and more." Linda has held writing roles with businesses and nonprofit organizations. Her stories and essays have appeared in literary journals and other publications, including Chicago Quarterly Review, Water~Stone Review, the Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Parent. She works as a freelance writer and leads creative writing classes, offered at the Newberry Library, the Center for Life and Learning, and elsewhere.
1984: David Sorensen
Experienced Litigator in Legal and Medical Malpractice Defense. Senior Litigation Attorney at Law Offices of Edward J. Kozel
1985: Nancy Morris
Information forthcoming.
1986: Doug Downing
Information forthcoming.
1986: Joel Jeske
Three-time New York Drama Desk Award Nominee and a writer and actor, Joel Jeske has been a professional clown, writer, and director for 25 years performing nationally, internationally, in New York City. He has written and created comedy material for Ringling Bros & Barnum and Bailey Circus, Cirque du Soleil, and New York’s Big Apple Circus. He has also worked for 17 years in New York and Connecticut hospitals on staff as clown doctor: Dr. Yadontsay for Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit and the national hospital program Healthy Humor. For 14 years, Joel has been the Associate Artistic Director of Parallel Exit, a New York based theater company.
Joel created and starred in two productions for the Big Apple Circus in 2015 and 2017. A graduate of Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Clown College in 1996, Joel toured with Ringling Bros., Cirque du Soleil, and Big Apple Circus for over a decade. Most recently, Joel was the movement and physical comedy consultant on SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical. In Chicago, he worked in television production as a writer and associate producer, has performed with both the Second City and ImprovOlympic, and created the theatrical sub-genre of “Clown Theater” for the Chicago Theater Scene before touring with Ringling Bros. in 1996.
Joel created and starred in two productions for the Big Apple Circus in 2015 and 2017. A graduate of Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Clown College in 1996, Joel toured with Ringling Bros., Cirque du Soleil, and Big Apple Circus for over a decade. Most recently, Joel was the movement and physical comedy consultant on SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical. In Chicago, he worked in television production as a writer and associate producer, has performed with both the Second City and ImprovOlympic, and created the theatrical sub-genre of “Clown Theater” for the Chicago Theater Scene before touring with Ringling Bros. in 1996.
1987: Ellen Highstone
Information forthcoming.
1988: Steven Huh
Head teacher at Steven Academy, Inc. The academy specializes students to potentially enter Ivy League and other prestigious universities throughout the United States by providing SAT, AP, personal tutors, and VODs classes.
1989: Jean Philips
Information forthcoming.
1990: Cathy Becker
Coordinating Producer at ABC News.
1991: Catherine Hoffman Kaser
An award-winning writer and experienced editor specializing in creative nonfiction, Catherine owns her own freelance writing and editing firm, Write to the Point, located just outside Wilmington, Delaware. She credits her English teachers at GWHS—Mrs. Weinstock, Mr. Stark, Mrs. "Wordsworth" Whiteman, and Mrs. Dill-Varga—along with Mrs. Jakalski, Mrs. Ljung, and so many others for giving her a strong foundation in writing, close reading, and critical thinking. As an English major at Bryn Mawr College, she worked as a peer writing tutor and completed an independent study of how students approach the writing and editing process. These experiences helped develop her own self-awareness as a writer and has invigorated her work with her clients ever since. In addition to her A.B. from Bryn Mawr, Catherine holds an M.A. from the University of Delaware. She is active in the life of her two sons, volunteers with a variety of organizations, and can often be found singing in a choir.
1992: Jennifer Fronc
Honors Director and professor in the Department of History at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her writing includes the following:
- Monitoring the Movies: The Fight over Film Censorship in Early Twentieth-Century America. This book was a finalist for the 2017 Richard Wall Memorial Award for an exemplary work in the field of recorded performance.
- New York Undercover. To combat behavior they viewed as sexually promiscuous, politically undesirable, or downright criminal, social activists in Progressive-era New York employed private investigators to uncover the roots of society’s problems. In her review, Ann Fabian, Rutgers (The State University of New Jersey) wrote that “New York Undercover is a smart, surprising, and important book. With the keen intelligence and sharp wit of a good investigator, Jennifer Fronc unearths the roots of our culture of surveillance by taking us back to New York at the start of the twentieth century and following the undercover agents who followed gamblers, prostitutes, anarchists, immigrants, children, and men and women just out for a good time.”
1993: Laura Anderson
Information forthcoming.
1994: Sean Duffy
Information forthcoming.
1995: Alina Borger
Alina Borger writes and teaches in Iowa City, IA. She is the author of the chapbook Tuesday's Children (Hermeneutic Chaos Press), and her poetry has appeared in Midwestern Gothic, The Cider Press Review, Stirring, and Mom Egg Review, among others. While studying at Vermont College of Fine Arts (MFA 2019), she shifted her focus to writing fiction for children and young adults, work that is currently represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary. When Alina's not writing, she's usually watching her boys play soccer or curled up with mug of tea and a good book. Visit her at www.alinaborger.com or on Twitter @AliBG.
1995: Douglas Cowie
Douglas Cowie was born in Elmhurst, Illinois in 1977. He graduated from Colgate University in 1999, and studied for both an MA and PhD at the University of East Anglia. He is the author of Owen Noone and the Marauder (Canongate 2005), Sing for Life: Tin Pan Alley (Black Hill Press 2013), Sing for Life: Away, You Rolling River (Black Hill Press 2014), as well as various short stories and essays. He teaches in the Department of English at Royal Holloway, University of London.
His webpage can be found here: http://douglascowie.com/
His webpage can be found here: http://douglascowie.com/
1996: Paul Dome
VP of production at Small Army Agency in Boston, Paul Dome is now living among Red Sox nation. He prides himself on being a Cubs fan no matter how poorly they play, and a Bears fan no matter how dated the Super Bowl Shuffle is.Paul began his career in marketing as a 22-year-old single guy managing a daily email recipe program. From there, it was an upward trajectory. He worked at Circle.com, now EuroRSCG 4D, on digital initiatives for many brands under the Campbell's Soup umbrella. He then moved to Arnold Worldwide on Royal Caribbean and ESPN, managing campaigns for both digital and traditional channels. Paul then had a brief stint on the "client side" at Bose Corporation, managing retail marketing programs. Outside of work, Paul is an improv comedy actor and can be seen performing around the Boston area. Paul's most inspirational quote comes from Wayne Gretzky: "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take."
1997: Erica Lindberg
Information forthcoming.
1998: Heather King
Information forthcoming.
1999: Julia Kotecki
Julia Kotecki graduated from the University of Iowa in 2002 with a BA in English and Theatre Arts, intending to write novels professionally. However, as John Lennon once sang, 'life is what happens when you're making other plans.' Soon after completing her BA, Julia's life took a turn for the unexpected when she was diagnosed with a psychiatric disability. Committed to understanding and mastering her situation, Julia studied psychology and social work. She eventually changed her legal name to demonstrate looking at the world with fresh eyes and completed a Master's of Science in Disability and Human Development. She went on to work in mental health recovery support as a Qualified Mental Health Professional, and became a fierce activist in Chicago ADAPT, the area's premier disability rights action group. Currently, she works as a public health professional with a special passion for mental health and wellness. She aspires to earn the DrPH credential (a doctorate in public health).
1999: Molly Worthen
Molly Worthen is a historian of American religion and a liberal journalist. She is assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has authored several books and is a contributing Op-Ed writer for The New York Times.
2000: Jessica Schmidt
Information forthcoming.
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004: No names found. No award given.
2005: Gwendolyn Kacia Purdom
Information forthcoming.
2006: Emma Marie Martin
Information forthcoming.
2007: Jill C. Nofsinger
Information forthcoming.
2008: Michael Joseph Markese
Information forthcoming.
2009: Erin Troy Buthman
Information forthcoming.
2010: Annie Houghton-Larson
Information forthcoming.
2011: Kevin Carl Minkus
Information forthcoming.
2012: Dr. Nicholas Posegay
Dr. Nick Posegay earned a B.A. from the University of Chicago in Near Eastern Languages, Civilizations and Religious Studies in 2016. He continued at Chicago, earning an M.A. from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in 2017. At that time, he became one of a handful of national recipients of a Bill Gates Cambridge Scholarship to continue his studies at the University of Cambridge in England. There, he pursued and received a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, completing his dissertation in 2021. His studies included learning to read the ancient forms of Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac, as well as research internships in Jordan and Morocco. As of this writing, he has produced over two dozen published works that have examined the history and development of the various languages, religions and cultures that evolved in the Middle East from the sixth to the nineteenth century. His most recent book, Points of Contact, won the British & Irish Association for Jewish Studies Annual Book Prize. By examining how religious cultures coexisted throughout history, he hopes to emphasize the possibilities of continued cooperation in the region. He currently works and writes as a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge.
2013: Finoa Mackenzie Bare
Information forthcoming.
2013: Emily Catherine Molloy
Information forthcoming.
2014: Emily Wilgenbusch
Information forthcoming.
2015: Kyle Freiler
Information forthcoming.
2016: Kevin Schnur
Information forthcoming.
2017: Claire Wild
Information forthcoming.
2018: Ella Crowley
Information forthcoming.
2018: Emily Gibson
Information forthcoming.
2019:
Information forthcoming.
2020:
Our next recipient! Who will it be?