STANFORD, CA.-The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University is pleased to announce the winner of the first annual Geballe Prize for Writing. This year's award goes to Winnie Chen, Stanford University freshman (class of 2008), for her paper entitled The Printing Process as Political Critique.

Chen's paper was written for “Epic Journeys, Modern Quests,” a course offered by the university's Introduction to Humanities (I-Hum) program, and was submitted for consideration by Trina Marmarelli, a post-doctoral teaching fellow in the I-Hum program. The paper concerns a work of art in four string-bound volumes, Tianshu or “Book from Heaven,” by the noted Chinese artist Xu Bing (b. 1955). On extended loan to the Cantor Arts Center from Contemporary Chinese art expert Britta Erickson, Tianshu is on display in one of the Center's galleries of Asian art.

The Geballe Prize has been established to encourage Stanford University faculty and students to utilize the Cantor Arts Center as a resource for intellectual discovery by honoring outstanding examples of prose writing related to the Cantor Arts Center, its collections, exhibitions, or programs. Submissions may be analytical, argumentative, or creative prose written by first and second year undergraduate students as part of coursework in any discipline. Winners receive a $500 cash award. In addition, winning submissions are considered for publication in the biennial Cantor Arts Center Journal. Nominations must come from a faculty member. Papers are evaluated for strong and expressive style, complex thought, cogent language, and active engagement with art or related activities at the Cantor Arts Center.

The prize is supported by the Geballe Fund for Academic Initiatives in the Cantor Arts Center.