MARQUETTE, Mich.—Northern Michigan University’s English department has announced the Lois and Willard Cohodas Literary Prize winners for 2013. Tanya Pazdernik of Bessemer was awarded first place and $500 for her essay, “Local Agency and Individual Initiative in the Evolution of the Holocaust: The Case of Heinrich Himmler.”

Danielle Morrison of Springfield, Ill., won the $250 second-place award for “Captive Companions.” Christian Tauriainen of Gwinn received the $100 third-place award for “Ethics of Inequality.”

The competition is open to all NMU undergraduate students. It is designed to provoke serious thought about eliminating prejudice and building an understanding between people, as well as advocating for universal human rights around the world. Writers can also focus on remembering the unique atrocity of the Nazi Holocaust by promoting awareness of other atrocious genocides throughout history.