Exemplary Contributors

With great pleasure, the editors recognize four contributors to Harvard Magazine during 2006, awarding each $1,000 for their distinguished...

With great pleasure, the editors recognize four contributors to Harvard Magazine during 2006, awarding each $1,000 for their distinguished service to readers.

Adam Kirsch
Debra Bradley Ruder

The McCord Writing Prize, named for David T.W. McCord ’21, A.M. ’22, L.H.D. ’56, recalls the lively prose and verse he wrote at this magazine and at the Harvard College Fund. This year’s prize honors, for the second time, contributing editor Adam Kirsch ’97, for “Rereading the Renaissance” (March-April) and the November-December cover story, a profile and assessment of poet Seamus Heaney. Kirschs wide reading and wonderful writing make literature fresh and important.

The Smith-Weld Prize—in the memories of A. Calvert Smith ’14, formerly secretary to Harvard’s governning boards and executive assistant to President James Bryant Conant, and Philip S. Weld ’36, former president of the magazine—celebrates thought-provoking journalism about the University. Debra Bradley Ruder’s feature, “Life Lessons” (January-February), presented compelling personal stories about medical students and their gravely ill patients, and in a September-October news account, she provided a lucid report on Harvard Medical School’s new curriculum.

Stuart Bradford
Jim Harrison

Illustrator Stuart Bradford insightfully interpreted the January-February cover story on how political opinions are formed and change, among his other resonant work during the year.

Photographer Jim Harrison, long a contributing editor, enlivened numerous articles, in assignments ranging from an illustrated feature on the reinstalled Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (March-April) to portraits of departing President Lawrence H. Summers (September-October cover article). It is a pleasure to acknowledge his invaluable work again. Characteristically, Harrison continues to reinvent himself, practicing photography in a new medium in this issue (see “The Oracle of Aqua”).

Most popular

Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time

Further links to Jeffrey Epstein surface in newly released files.

The Teen Brain

It’s a paradoxical time of development. These are people with very sharp brains, but they’re not quite sure what to do with them...

Harvard Law Professor Explains the AI Battle Between Tech and Government

Jonathan Zittrain compares today’s conflicts to tensions surrounding the early internet.

Explore More From Current Issue

Three joyful graduates in caps and gowns celebrate together outdoors.

Commencement Week Events

Harvard Commencement Events 2026

Bronze statues of three historical figures under a stylized tree in a softly lit space.

The Costly Choice Native Americans Faced

How the Revolution reshaped indigenous New England

A glowing orange sun with a star and a trailing gas cloud in space.

A Harvard Astrophysicist Explains the Bizarre Behavior of a Supergiant Star

The dimming and rapid rotation of Betelgeuse may be caused by a hidden companion.