CFP: Celebrating Student Writing in Writing Programs

Posted on by

Call for Abstracts for Edited Collection: Celebrating Student Writing in Writing Programs

Recently I, Tawnya Azar (co-editor), posted a request for information on the Writing Studies listserv to solicit information and ideas about hosting a celebration of student writing event in my composition program. After a long search for published research or essays on student writing events, I was finding very little and hoped I would at least get a few additional recommendations for published works on the subject. Instead many faculty and program heads contacted me with generous, detailed descriptions of student writing events they previously ran or currently run, and I was struck by the diversity and potential impact of these events on campus communities. One such respondent to my plea, Amanda Smith (co-editor), agreed that there was a lack of published resources about these types of events and so the idea for this edited collection was born.

Whether they are titled as a “Celebration,” an “Expo,” or “Showcase,” Celebrations of Student Writing events (CSWs) are hosted by writing programs from a wide range of institution types. These CSWs encourage students to share their writing and research with the wider campus community. CSWs benefit students by fostering agency and authority (Carter and Gallegos) and highlight the important work of writing programs in shaping students’ approaches to individual and collaborative writing.

Some of these events focus on student ideas about writing while others showcase existing writing projects. Some feature interactive components such as bookbinding or presentations while others feature a gallery walk / poster session model. Some seek to make analog what was originally digital and others are hosted in entirely virtual environments (Perkins). Some include works in progress while others focus on polished compositions.

In spite of the popularity of these events and their demonstrated value for students and writing programs, there is a significant lack of scholarship detailing their nature, their effects on student, faculty, program, and campus communities, and their position within the larger landscape of writing studies. While there are more publications that focus on institution-wide undergraduate research events, this collection will focus on events organized by writing programs in particular.

This collection seeks to gather together chapters that describe writing program events that showcase student writing projects (alphabetic and multimodal) including (but not limited to) WID, WAC, Composition/Rhetoric, and First Year Writing.

We invite proposals for essayistic and empirical chapters that address but are not limited to the following:

  • Student responses to CSWs and potential impacts on students
  • Internal and External Support for student writing events (i.e. funding, logistics, partners)
  • CSW impacts on different communities (e.g. students, faculty, program/institution, campus, off-campus/external)
  • Alignment with Course/Learning Outcomes and how CSWs support student learning
  • Affordances and Challenges of hosting CSWs
  • Integrating different technologies for facilitating CSWs
  • The role of interactive components in CSWs (e.g. learning stations, performances, feedback-to-students)
  • Incentivization/Buy-in of students and/or faculty and/or programs
  • The role of assessment, evaluation, and/or judging/awards for CSW entries (including formal certification of participation in the CSW)
  • Labor distribution for developing, hosting CSWs (organizational/team efforts)
  • Pre-event support/workshops for students and/or faculty
  • The value/function of students adapting existing work for a CSW event
  • Evaluation and Assessment of CSWs
  • The function and value of themes for CSWs
  • The role of reflection in CSWs
  • Showcasing writing “Process” in CSWs
  • CSWs that feature different writing populations such as FYW, Upper-level WID/WAC/Comp/Rhet students, and/or graduate students

Submission Guidelines
To submit your abstract, please fill out this GoogleForm by 11:59 PM PT March 30th, 2025.

Please direct any questions to Tawnya Azar (tazar4) and Amanda Smith (amanda.smith)
Proposed Project Timeline
Abstracts due March 30th, 2025
Chapters due September 14th, 2025
Editors Bios
Tawnya Azar, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of English at George Mason University. She is an Assistant Director of Composition and tasked with hosting her program’s first-ever Celebration of Student Writing event. Her research interests include Community-Engagement and Writing Studies, Multimodal Composition, Online Writing Instruction, and Digital Composition. See tawnyaazar.com for more information and a selection of publications.
Amanda Emanuel Smith, Ph.D., currently serves as the Assistant Director of First-Year Writing at San José State University, where she also coordinates Stretch English and the Reflection of College Writing (Directed Self-Placement into First-Year Writing). Her interests and scholarship include: English-German Comparative Literature, Non-Traditional Grading, and Multilingualism, Multimodality, and Multiculturalism in First-Year Writing.
Works Cited
Carter, G. M., & Gallegos, E. P. (2017). Moving Beyond the Hype: What Does the Celebration of Student Writing Do for Students? Composition Studies, 45(1), 74–98.

Perkins, T., Blewett, K., & Evans, M. T. (2023). Ready, Set, Match: Helping Students Feel Like They Matter through Virtual Events. Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.14434/jotlt.v12i1.36330

Tawnya Azar, Ph.D.
she/her/Dr.
Assistant Director of Composition
Associate Professor of English
George Mason University
Office: Horizon Hall 4119