the NECMT/David Lewin Essay Contest

[burtond]

Dear NECMT colleagues,

At the recent NECMT meeting in Amherst in June, in addition to the by-laws revisions being adopted, the idea of having a NECMT essay contest on a given topic, in which the top three contestants would form a program session, was unanimously supported. This contest would be run for an experimental year (2009) only, after which the Executive Board and Program Committees could decide if it were to become permanent.

The topic of debate, however, was whether or not to name to prize after David Lewin, who did not like competitions in his mature years. His widow, June, is very much in favor of naming the prize after him, noting that he did enter competitions when he was younger.

So, I'd like you input as to what we should call this prize. Here are a few suggestions from various NECMT members:

- the NECMT Award
- the NECMT Essay Award
- the David Lewin Essay Award / Prize
- the David Lewin Memorial Essay Prize (this, from Ed Gollin, who writes, "It then doesn't sound like a prize he himself sanctioned, but rather is a prize given in his memory (which it is)."

Please weigh in on this soon, as we will need to announce the contest around July 1st.

Thanks,

Deborah
_________________
Deborah Burton
President, NECMT

[davidecohen]

I like Ed Gollin's idea. I'd suggest a few small modifications, as follows:

"The NECMT David Lewin Memorial Essay Award."

David E. Cohen
Columbia University