The Stover Writing Competition tasks participating Waynesburg University students with following the prompt of telling a story of inspiring Christian leadership and ethical business. The top three winners of the competition win a combined total of $1,200. 

Cassy Dorsch, director of the eHIVE, said the Stover Writing Competition first began in the spring of 2022. The eHIVE received a grant to begin the competition, which was created in the first place in memory of Robert Stover. 

The writing prompt for the Stover Writing Competition has remained primarily the same since its inception. According to the Stover Writing Competition flyer, the full prompt for this year’s competition is “Telling the story of a person, or service in your field who has demonstrated redemptive innovation by creating a Christian infrastructure,” with the prompt itself was created to reflect Robert Stover’s values. 

When asked to explain what the Stover Writing Competition was, Dorsch said, “The Stover Writing Competition is a competition where students would submit a three-to-five-page paper about a redemptive Christian innovator.” The essay would feature a person, business or non-profit in their field or major that demonstrates that redemptive Christian nature. 

When it comes to judging the submissions, the eHIVE has no part in it, as Dorsch removes names and any other identifying information from the submissions received to achieve a true blind reading. 

The submissions are then sent to an internal panel of anonymous Waynesburg University judges, where the submissions are then whittled down to the semi-finalists. For the final judging, the semi-finalists submissions are sent to an outside panel of judges, usually consisting of friends and alumni of Waynesburg University. The student’s writing is judged based upon their writing skills, technique and the content of their paper.

When speaking about the excited reactions from winners of the Stover Writing Competition, Dorsch said, “That’s really encouraging to see, cause they don’t necessarily think they could do something like this, and then they do it and they win.”

In an interview posted on the eHIVE’s Instagram, one of this year’s participants, previous Stover Writing Competition winner Seth Robertson, was able to speak about his submission as an example. The story Robertson wrote about focused on a personal fitness organization that helped local parks by providing personal fitness coaching and training outdoors for park employees, as well as by assisting in park maintenance and cleaning. 

The eHIVE plans to continue the tradition of the Stover Writing Competition in the spring of 2025. Dorsch said she hopes to see more Waynesburg University departments participating in the competition, and to expand the competition’s reach.

In the 2021-2022 Stover Writing Competition, the winners in first, second and third place were Jonathan Bailey, Madison Petros and Joshua Cavallo respectively. In the 2022-2023 Stover Writing Competition, the winners were Carly Anderson, Seth Robertson and Haley Berry. This year’s Stover Writing Competition submissions are still being judged. The winners of the competition will be announced during the final chapel ceremony on Tuesday, April 23.