Paul Adams, a junior philosophy and English major from Morgantown, won top honors and a $1,000 prize in a science essay contest at West Virginia University.

The contest was associated with WVU s 2000 Claude Worthington Benedum Lecture Series, which features talks by WVU s top scientists and researchers. This years series focused on”Science, Life and the New Millennium.”

Regarding his essay,”Our Memory is a Memorial,”Adams noted that he was interested in the”differences between cultural and shared memories and personal memory images and how memories and memorials were related.”

He is a member of the WVU Philosophy Club and has been involved with readings of poetry and fiction sponsored by Calliope and the WVU Department of English.

Adams said he plans to use some of the prize money for a trip abroad this summer.

Three $500 prizes were also awarded to the following students:

• “Virtual Existence: Memory as Identity in Gibsons Novels”by Toby Garbutt, a sophomore pre-history major from Morgantown.

• “The Unbearable Seemingness of Things”by junior Justin Earley, a pre-political science major from New Martinsville.

• “Memory, Identity and One Curiously Pleasureful Cup of Coffee: A Lesson from a Season in the Memory Disorders Clinic”by Ryan Schiffbauer, a senior psychology major from Fairmont.
  p. All participants wrote 1,500-2,000-word essays relating to the topic of the lecture series or one of the six featured presentations.

The prize money for the competition is funded in part by an anonymous donor, who said:”The contribution providing partial support for the essay prizes has been made in support of the hope and belief that public education at all levels ensures our democracy by meeting the needs of all and, at the same time, offering unlimited opportunity to those who wish to seize it.”