Surgam

The Philolexian Foundation

In service to the Philolexian Society of Columbia University · Founded MDCCCII

Administered by the English Department

The Philolexian Prize

Awarded annually by Columbia College's English Department for fiction, essays, memoirs, poetry, plays, film scripts, or translations by an undergraduate. Lineage to the 1852 semi-centennial fund.

The Philolexian Prize traces back to the prize fund alumni raised at the Society's 1852 semi-centennial — more than $1,300 endowed annual prizes in Oratory, Debate, and Essay. Those original awards eventually merged, and since the 1950s the consolidated Philolexian Prize has been administered by Columbia College's English Department on the Society's behalf.

The Prize accepts submissions in a generous range of forms: fiction, essays, memoirs, poetry, plays, film scripts, and literary translations. Selection is by faculty committee. The Prize is announced at the College's annual end-of-year ceremonies; the Society sends a delegation.

Cadence

Annual

Eligibility

Columbia College undergraduates

Prize

$3,000

Administered by

Columbia English Department

Recent Recipients

YearRecipientFor
2026Bess Blackburn, CC '27 & Daksha Pillai, CC '27Joint award
2025Clara Noggle, CC '28Companion to Gabriel Uceda-Sosa's Centennial Washington Prize the same year
2024Kathryn Lee, CC '25 & Marino Bubba, CC '24Joint award
2023Sang Yun Jee, CC '24 & Jing Yan Ye, CC '23Joint award
2022Sang Yun Jee, CC '24 & Ashley Yung, CC '24Joint award
2021Katherine Chen, CC '24Also recipient of the Centennial Washington Prize
2020Alessandra Allen, CC '20 & Seowon Lee, CC '22Joint award
2019John Shelby Street, CC '20 & Catherine Clement, CC '20Joint award
2018Julian Pecht, CC '21
2017Bindu Bansinath, CC '18
2016Serena Solin, CC '16
2015Serena Solin, CC '16
2014Kailee Pedersen, CC '17 & Serena Solin, CC '16Joint award · Pedersen for “Mythopoetics”
2013Yanyi Luo, CC '13“56th Battalion No Survivors” · also awarded the Brownstein Prize
2012Krupa Harishankar, CC '12
2011Nicholas Yoke Hin Wong, CC '11
2010Rebecca Kutzer-Rice, CC '12
2009Daniel Feldman, CC '09
2008Shaday Stewart, CC '09 & Hannah Assadi, CC '08Joint award
2007Katarzyna Kozanecka, CC '07
2006Liesl M. Yamaguchi, CC '06
2005Esinam Bediako, CC '05
2004Eric Linsker
2003Nikil Saval, CC '05
2002Paul Kiel, CC '02
2001Fallon Scoggins, CC '03
2000Melanie Kain, CC '00 & Lara Weibgen, CC '02Joint award
1997Lauren Grodstein, CC '97Earliest year in the available record
…1953–1996 recipients are held in the Columbia University Archives and are being catalogued.
c. 1946–48Allen Ginsberg, CC '48Cited as a mid-century recipient in Society history
1938Eugene Williams, CC '38Prose · “The Elements of Jazz”
c. 1930sRalph de Toledano, CC '38Won the Prize twice
c. 1920sRobert Turney, CC '22Won the Prize three times for short stories and poems
c. 1907–12A. Joyce Kilmer '08 · V. K. Wellington Koo '08 · Randolph Bourne '12All cited as early-century recipients by the Society's history

Recipient names above are drawn from Foundation records, the English Department's Former Prize Recipients page, WikiCU, and Columbia College Today. Coverage is thickest for 1997–2026; the 1852–1996 stretch is partially attested and being catalogued from the Columbia University Archives and the Society's own records. Years with no listing above (1998–99) have not yet surfaced in searchable sources.

Submit via the English Department