Ella Stott Wins Sigma Tau Delta Journal Award

English major Ella Stott has been awarded the Elizabeth Holtze Creative Nonfiction Award from Rectangle, the national journal of the English honor society Sigma Tau Delta, for her essay “Divine Nature.” Ella’s essay recounts her baptism and how her parents’ and sister’s different religious beliefs shaped the experience, exploring how family, faith, and guilt intertwined in her childhood. The award comes with a $500 prize, and “Divine Nature” will be published in 2026 in Rectangle. Ella will also read the essay at the national Sigma Tau Delta conference in New Orleans in March 2026.

Rectangle is a refereed journal that chooses award-winners from around 1,000 annual submissions. Ella recalls submitting the piece “the day submissions closed in April” after revising until she “was completely proud of [it].” She adds, “Hearing back that I was accepted into the journal in August was so rewarding and affirming to me that my story was one other people wanted to read. I didn't even know the journal had awards until I had won in October! All of the submissions were automatically considered, so I feel so thankful that mine was selected as the personal essay winner.”

Ella’s essay originated during her first year at USU in Professor Jennifer Sinor’s creative nonfiction course. What began as a flash project soon grew into a fuller essay she continued developing afterward. Ella says, “I really enjoyed revisiting this piece, reworking the language using the tools I've gained in my writing courses, and learning more about myself and who I am now throughout it all. This piece is a very important one to me, as it is from a vulnerable time in my life, and writing it and coming back to it after a year and a half was a very healing process.” 

Ella is currently at work on a memoir that will serve as the culmination of her undergraduate career at USU.