Short Story by Michael Sears '11 Awarded Henfield Prize

July 6, 2016

Michael A. Sears, a 2011 graduate of DePauw University and the recipient of a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Virginia in May 2016, is the recipient of a Henfield Prize.

Established by the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation to honor promising authors, five winners are selected from competitions held at UVA and four other graduate creative writing programs, with each winner receiving a $10,000 award. Sears was honored for his short story, "You Are Merely Part of This."

Christopher Tilghman, an author and English professor at UVA, taught Sears. "Michael Sears’ fictionalized account of his own real journey on foot through Eastern Europe and Turkey -- of which this story is a part -- is really a stunning piece of work," says Tilghman. "His protagonist is a gutsy, unruffled figure always just a little off to one side of the action, always observing in his equanimous way, always recording. The stories often take a surprising turn at the end, a moment of empathy or insight into the human heart just when one least expects it."

An article in UVA Today notes, "After graduating from DePauw University in Indiana, having majored in philosophy and creative writing, Sears returned to his native Ohio and spent a few years working in factories, with the goal of saving money for traveling ... From working in a factory gluing East College together rubber tubes to staying with Romanian water polo players when he visited their country, Michael Sears spent several years between college and graduate school taking the time to reflect on where his life had brought him so far."