Alena's Awards and Honors

1. Publication in the W.W. Norton anthology: Angles of Ascent: Contemporary African American Poetry.

2. Winner, Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Prize, Persea Books/W.W. Norton.

3. Publication of The Logan Topographies (Persea Books, 2007).

4. Textbook Reviewer Badge, College Open Textbooks.

5. New Student Scholarship, Saybrook University.

6. Finalist, Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award (2008).

7. Finalist, Weatherford Award for Best Non-Fiction Writing on Appalachia (2008).

8. Volunteers for Peace Travel Scholarship – Arabic/French/English exchange with family and international participants in Rabat, Morocco.

9. Cave Canem Fellowship in Poetry – worked with Yusef Komunyakka, Elizabeth Alexander, Erica Hunt.

10. Finalist, Rona Jaffe Foundation Writing Award.

11. Selected Winner, Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Award, Bear Star Press.

12. Teacher of the Year Nominee, Solano College (twice).

13. Finalist, Frith Press Open Poetry Chapbook Competition.

14. Fellowship in Poetry (Top Prize), Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.

15. Flash Fiction Contest Winner, Doorknobs & BodyPaint.

16. Zora Neale Hurston Scholar, Naropa University Summer Writing Program (Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics).

17. John Hawkes Memorial Prize in Fiction, Brown University.

18. Departmental Honors, Guilford College.

19. Leora Sherrill O’Callaghan Scholarship for Excellence in English, Guilford College.

20. Honorable Mention for Writing in the Humanities, Guilford College.

21. Certificate of Achievement in African American Studies, Guilford College.

22. Presidential Scholarship, Guilford College.

23. Dean’s List, Guilford College.

24. Graduation Speaker (female selection), Guilford College.

25. Dean's Award for Excellence, California School of Forensic Studies, Alliant International University