Joseph ’63 and Carol Trimmer Awards for Excellence in Expository Writing

When I attended Colgate University no one taught writing. Faculty members assumed that their students knew how to write before they arrived on campus even though the writing assignments they were asked to complete were very different from the writing assignments they were given in secondary school. Faculty members assigned writing in every class, but did not explain the rhetorical strategies embedded in their assignments, schedule writing conferences or suggest ways an essay might be revised. They simply graded our papers and returned them.

The creation of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at Colgate demonstrates that faculty members are beginning to realize that each writing assignment presents a new rhetorical challenge. And writers must learn to assess the purpose, audience, and genre required in every writing situation.

The Trimmer Prize — sponsored by me and my wife, Carol (who writes for a variety of professional audiences) — is an attempt to acknowledge the challenges students must overcome every time they face a new assignment. Our correspondence with the winners and, in particular, our pleasure in reading their prize-winning essays in different disciplines has been a most rewarding educational experience. It also convinces us that all writers must learn to write anew every time they write. For that reason, we are extremely pleased that the Department of Writing and Rhetoric teaches the strategies writers will need when they encounter the next assignment and the next blank page.

— Joseph Trimmer ’63