Writers Dick Friedman, Spencer Lenfield, and illustrator Brad Yeo honored

Honoring two exceptional authors and one artist

We take great pleasure in saluting three outstanding contributors to Harvard Magazine for their work on readers’ behalf in 2015, and happily confer on each a $1,000 honorarium.


Spencer Lenfield

A former Ledecky Undergraduate Fellow at this magazine, Spencer Lenfield ’12 wrote superb articles throughout and after his College studies. Now, it is more than fitting to salute him for “Line by Line,” his pitch-perfect portrait of poet and translator David Ferry, Ph.D. ’55 (May-June, page 52), and his profile of publisher Adam Freudenheim (November-December, page 72)—both written as Lenfield completed his studies in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar during the past academic year. We’re delighted to award him the McCord Writing Prize (honoring the legendary prose and verse that David T.W. McCord ’21, A.M. ’22, L.H.D. ’56, composed for these pages and for the Harvard College Fund), and look forward to his next feature in these pages.


Dick Friedman

Dick Friedman ’73, a Sports Illustrated veteran, has covered the past two exciting Crimson football campaigns in vivid deadline accounts enlivened with historical context, humor, and pinpoint prose (see page 37). This year, he upped his game in “Murphy Time,” his pene­trating November-December cover story about the coach who has become an exemplary recruiter, tactician, and teacher for hundreds of students. We celebrate Friedman’s many contributions with the Smith-Weld Prize (in memory of A. Calvert Smith ’14, a former secretary to the Governing Boards and executive assistant to President James Bryant Conant, and of Philip S. Weld ’36, a former president of the magazine), which honors thought-provoking writing about Harvard.


Brad Yeo

Illustrator Brad Yeo perfectly captured America’s crumbling infrastructure—and the political underpinnings of the problem—in his imaginative, finely detailed cover for the July-August issue, accompanying Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s essay on the subject. We thank and recognize Yeo for his eye-catching conception and expert execution, the twin underpinnings of the illustrator’s art and craft.  

~The Editors

Related topics

You might also like

What of the Humble Pencil?

Review: At the Harvard Art Museums’ new exhibit, drawing takes center stage

‘Passengers’ at A.R.T. Blends Acrobatics with Einstein’s Relativity

Review: Quantum mechanics meets circus arts at the American Repertory Theater’s performance

A Paper House in Massachusetts

The 1920s Rockport cottage reflects resourceful ingenuity.

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Free Speech, the Bomb—and Donald Trump

A Harvard cardiologist on the unlikely alliances that shaped a global movement to prevent nuclear war

Explore More From Current Issue

Whimsical illustration of students rushing through ornate campus gate from bus marked “Welcome New Students.”

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize. 

People sit in lawn chairs near a rustic barn at Cider Garden in New Salem on a sunny day.

CiderDays Festival Celebrates All Things Apple

Visiting small-batch cideries and orchards in Massachusetts

Will Makris in blue checkered suit and red patterned tie standing outdoors by stone column.

A New HAA President at a Tumultuous Time

A career in higher ed inspired Will Makris to give back.