Announcing the 2022 Benenson Award Winners
Twenty-four Duke students received a Benenson Award in the Arts this year to support and sustain their work over the summer months and help launch the graduating seniors into the next phase of their life.
Each year, Duke University awards Benenson Awards in the Arts, which provide funding for arts-centered projects proposed by undergraduates, including graduating seniors. This year, the Benenson selection committee awarded prizes to twenty-four students for creative projects spanning music, dance, film, theater, visual arts, design, and writing.
“We had a fantastic group of applicants this year from graduating seniors to rising sophomores. We returned to our previous process of supporting projects at variable levels of funding especially those with travel needs as the ongoing pandemic makes more space for arts to offer more workshops, intensives, and artistic internships.
Students continue the tradition of using Benenson funds to build upon thesis/capstone work or start the process of creating thesis/capstone work. Students who took time off during the pandemic seized the opportunity to pursue supplemental training and students this year will pursue training in fields (e.g., fashion, architectural and sustainable design) that have a smaller footprint at Duke.
We continue to see students engage the different but related mentorships provided by StudioDuke and the Benenson to take their work through multiple development dimensions, leaving Duke with impressive portfolios to carry out into the broader world of arts making.
Duke is incredibly lucky and thankful for this resource to support student artists. Current (and incoming) students, mark December 2022 on your calendar as the time to start thinking about a proposal for next summer’s application cycle.”
Jules Odendahl-James, Ph.D
Chair, Benenson Selection Committee
Director of Academic Engagement, Arts & Humanities
Lecturer, Theater Studies
2022 Benenson Award Winners
Annika Allado
Class of 2023
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Minor: Visual Arts
Project Area: Design
Madison Canfora
Class of 2022
Major: Neuroscience
Minors: Chemistry; Musical Theater
Project Area: Theater
Leah Esemuede
Class of 2024
Majors: Psychology; Dance
Project Area: Dance
Jacob Egol
Class of 2023
Major: Biology (Concentration in Cell & Molecular Biology)
Minor: Music
Project Area: Music
Maya Ghanem
Class of 2023
Major: International Comparative Studies (Concentration in the Middle East)
Project Area: Writing
Faith Gowen
Class of 2022
Majors: Computer Science; Visual Art
Certificate: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Project Area: Visual Arts
Scarlett Guy
Class of 2022
Major: Evolutionary Anthropology
Minor: Linguistics
Certificate: Documentary Studies
Project Area: Writing
Esther Hong
Class of 2023
Major: Computational Media (Interdepartmental)
Project Area: Design
John Kang
Class of 2023
Major: Visual & Media Studies (Concentration in Cinematic Arts)
Minors: Neuroscience; Theater Studies
Project Area: Film
Nicholas Kim
Class of 2023
Major: Computer Science
Minor: Theater Studies
Project Area: Theater
Antonio Marrujo
Class of 2025
Project Area: Dance
Lihua Mo-Hunter
Class of 2023
Major: Neuroscience
Minors: Dance; Linguistics
Project Area: Dance
Milena Ozernova
Class of 2022
Major: Political Science
Minors: History; Visual & Media Studies
Project Area: Visual Arts
Nicole Park
Class of 2023
Major: Visual & Media Studies (Concentration in Cinematic Arts)
Minor: Economics
Certificate: Markets & Management
Project Area: Dance
Taylor Plett
Class of 2022
Major: English
Certificate: Documentary Studies
Project Area: Writing
Anastacia Pogodina
Class of 2023
Majors: English; Theater Studies
Project Area: Writing
Sydney Reede
Class of 2023
Major: Fashioning Society: A Reassessment (Program II)
Project Area: Design
Alexa Blair Robertson
Class of 2022
Major: Biology
Minors: Dance; Chemistry
Project Area: Dance
Sannan Saleh
Class of 2022
Major: Visual & Media Studies
Project Area: Film
Tenley Seidel
Class of 2022
Majors: Theater Studies; Global Cultural Studies
Minor: History
Project Area: Writing
Denise Shkurovich
Class of 2022
Major: Evolutionary Anthropology
Minors: Art History; Chemistry
Project Area: Visual Arts
Tia Smith
Class of 2023
Majors: Theater Studies; African & African American Studies
Project Area: Writing
Alyssa Wilson
Class of 2022
Major: Psychology
Minors: English; Global Health
Project Area: Writing
Brandon Xie
Class of 2022
Majors: Economics; Computer Science
Minor: Cinematic Arts
Project Area: Theater
Browse Past Benenson Projects
What have other Duke students done with support from a Benenson Award in the Arts? Check out previous awardees here (you can also filter by artistic medium!).