Junior Teresa Morse and senior Parker Roth took first and second place, respectively, for their poetry writing samples at the Sigma Tau Delta International Convention March 20-23 in Portland, Ore.

Only three prizes are awarded each year per writing category.

Along with Morse and Roth, three other members participated in the event. Those students were Haven Ashley, Katelin Colby and Kyrie Bair.

“I think Baker taking the top two places is a reflection of the creative writing program and of Marti Mihalyi. I’ve never met a person who is so skilled at writing and also so willing to help her students,” Bair said. “I am incredibly proud of my award-winning peers. It took a lot of work for them to get where they are, and I think they deserve every drop of recognition they can get.”

These five students sent in manuscripts last November and survived multiple rounds of judging to be selected for the conference.

After working on her manuscript for many months, Morse felt confident when submitting her work for judging.

“I worked an entire semester on it,” Morse said. “It was in the works for a long time, and when I turned it in, I thought it was the best it could be.”

Roth and Morse both won cash prizes for their poetry. Roth earned a $300 check for second place, and Morse a $600 check for first.

“When they announced my name, I screamed like I’d never won anything in my life,” Roth said.

According to Morse, when Roth’s name was called, their entire table “exploded with excitement” and when her name followed, there was an overwhelming emotion of surprise.

“It’s really amazing. Never in a million years did I expect my name to be called,” Morse said. “We’re not known for our creative writing program, by any means, and to go up against nationally renowned universities and come away with two spots reflects positively on our professor and creative writing program as a whole.”