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

Lafayette’s Unexpected Gift to George Washington: Pheasants

The two birds will be on display at Harvard this summer.

Harvard Weathers a Year of Turmoil

The federal government has launched unprecedented actions against the University. Here’s a guide.

All That’s Unseen charts the Harvard graduate’s uneasy journey from Appalachia to Cambridge and back.  

Explore More From Current Issue

Runners compete on a track, with a Harvard athlete in the foreground and others behind.

After a historic 2025-26 season, athletes eye NCAA championships.

Three hands hold smartphones displaying social media profiles with likes and hearts.

Tell us about how social media impacts your daily life.

A vase of yellow flowers on a table next to an orange and a glass.

Harvard Art Museums restores a rare glimpse of an American master.