Accomplished Contributors

The editors take great pleasure in recognizing three contributors to Harvard Magazine during the past year, awarding each $1,000 for their...

The editors take great pleasure in recognizing three contributors to Harvard Magazine during the past year, awarding each $1,000 for their distinguished service to readers.

Adam Kirsch
Courtesy Adam Kirsch
Serge Bloch
Courtesy Serge Bloch

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 contributing editor Adam Kirsch '97, book critic of the New York Sun and author of the forthcoming book The Wounded Surgeon, a study of modern American poetry, for "The Brahmin Rebel" (May-June) and "The Hack as Genius" (November-December). Kirsch's fluidly crafted essay-reports, on Robert Lowell and Dr. Samuel Johnson, respectively, set a very high standard for absorbing, informative, and engaging assessments of these towering figures in American and English letters.

Illustrator Serge Bloch created a memorably simple and humorous cover and accompanying art for the March-April feature on exercise. It takes great discipline and vision to achieve such clarity and wit; we look forward to presenting more of Bloch's work in future issues.

Jim Harrison
Photograph by Jennifer Beaumont

It seems inescapable, and entirely fitting, that we again cite contributing editor Jim Harrison for his photography for the magazine. As he has done so often in the past, Harrison created compelling portraits for the May-June feature on diet and nutrition, and completed countless other assignments with a fresh and vivid eye. He does so again in this issue, in the feature on nanoscience (see "Thinking Small").

 

Most popular

Your Harvard 2026 Commencement Week Guide

College reunions and Alumni Day will take place the following week

Harvard Releases Database of 1,613 People Enslaved by University Affiliates

Research continues to track down living descendants.

Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time

Further links to Jeffrey Epstein surface in newly released files.

Explore More From Current Issue

Historical scene in colonial Boston depicting British soldiers confronting civilians, with smoke rising, in a city street.

Houghton Library Displays Revolution-era News and Propaganda

A new exhibit reveals how early Americans learned about the war.

Woman with long hair, smiling, wearing a black sweater, in a textured beige background.

For This Poet, AI is a Writing Partner

Sasha Stiles trained a chatbot on her manuscripts. Now, her poems rewrite themselves.

Mercy Otis Warren in period attire writes at a desk by candlelight, surrounded by books.

The Woman Who Penned the Case for War

Mercy Otis Warren’s poetry and plays incited the Patriot movement.