
Theme: Nature
Deadline: Friday, March 6, 2026, 4:00 p.m. EST
For the first time, New York alumna Evelyn Barish ’56 is sponsoring a photography prize to be awarded by the Bryn Mawr Club of New York City to a Bryn Mawr alum. The theme for this inaugural contest is nature—including flora and landscapes.
Photographs, which may be color or black-and-white, must be taken outdoors within the five boroughs of New York City between December 30, 2025, and March 6, 2026.
The contest is open to all Mawrters worldwide, including graduate school alums. Professional photographers are not eligible to enter.
Official Rules
- The deadline for all submissions is Friday, March 6, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. No late submissions will be accepted.
- Submissions must be made by means of a Google Form available through this link. The form will include fields for the contestant’s name, class year, degree (e.g., AB, MSS, PhD, etc.), location of photo, date of photo, title of photo, and the contestant’s contact information. Instructions for file naming (35 characters maximum) will be included on the form.
- Each contestant may submit only one photograph.
- No entry fee is required.
- Each photograph must conform to the following rules:
- It must be taken between December 30, 2025, and March 6, 2026.
- It must be taken outdoors within the five boroughs of New York City.
- It must adhere to the theme of nature.
- There should be no animals or people in the picture.
- It must be original.
- It may be color-corrected or cropped but not otherwise enhanced.
- It may be color or black-and-white.
- It must be a single photograph—not a collage.
- It must have a title.
- Judging criteria include originality, technical quality, composition, adherence to theme, and visual impact.
- Eligibility is limited to alums of Bryn Mawr, including graduate school alums.
- Professional photographers are not eligible. The honor code will apply to all contestants.
- The judges may elect to name one or more honorable mentions.
- The first-place winner will receive a check in the amount of $250.00.
- The first-place winner and those receiving honorable mentions must agree to the publication of their photographs in the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin and in electronic and social media communications from Bryn Mawr College and the Bryn Mawr Club of New York City.
Prize Selection and Announcement
The judges will select the winning photograph in April, and the winner will be announced publicly by the end of the month. The judges’ decision is final.
Contest Judges
The following panel of judges (listed in order of class year) will review the submissions.
Evelyn Barish ’56: A native of New York, Evelyn graduated from Bryn Mawr College magna cum laude and studied at Oxford as a Fulbright scholar while writing her PhD dissertation for New York University. She began her teaching career at Cornell University, later becoming professor of English at City University of New York, its graduate center, and the College of Staten Island. Using archival sources, her books have been based on extensive research, and in 1989, her biography Emerson: The Roots of Prophecy won the Christian Gauss Award given by Phi Beta Kappa to “the year’s best work of criticism and scholarship.” She is also the author of Arthur Hugh Clough: Growth of a Poet’s Mind, Emerson in Italy, and The Double Life of Paul De Man, for which the Bryn Mawr Club of New York City hosted a launch party in 2014. Evelyn has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the Fulbright Commission.
Helen Thurston ’74: After graduating from Bryn Mawr with a degree in English, Helen worked in Boston city government, on Wall Street, and at not-for-profit education and arts institutions, including the Columbia Journalism School, Columbia Law School, and the Columbia University Medical Center Department of Surgery. She now is a consultant in the areas of historic preservation, the arts, sustainable natural development, and nonprofit programming. While at Bryn Mawr, she served on the Haverford College student council. Thanks to high school teachers who went to Bryn Mawr, Helen believes in the transformative power of the arts to influence ideas and hearts and to support efforts for the public good. She holds degrees from Université d’Aix-Marseille II and Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Helen served as president of the Bryn Mawr Club of New York City from 2013 to 2024 and led its transition to national online programming during COVID. She continues on the board as president emerita. Under her leadership, with an intensified focus on DEI and antiracism, the club welcomed more than four thousand attendees to a wide variety of monthly events.
Barbara Clark ’79: Barbara was an English major at Bryn Mawr, where she won the Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize for best single poem. Shortly after graduation, she began her career in book publishing, which continues to this day and which includes eight years working exclusively on image-driven and visually oriented titles. In 1998, Barbara earned her MFA in acting. She is currently a freelance book editor as well as the career adviser for the Columbia Publishing Course. She is a former member at large of the Bryn Mawr Club of New York City board.
Trilby V John ’98: Trilby graduated from Bryn Mawr after majoring in English with a minor in education. With a firm belief in the power of education and a love for New York City, she has devoted her professional life to teaching children in the boroughs of the Big Apple. She has taught in every grade, from pre-K to twelfth, but it was her stint as an adjunct lecturer in the CUNY system that ignited her desire to make a change within the system. Today, as a program manager, she is elated to be part of the team that recruits and hires teachers for the New York City public school system. Trilby serves as the ’90s representative on the board of the Bryn Mawr Club of New York City.
Alisha Park ’13: Alisha graduated from Bryn Mawr with a degree in anthropology and an interest in environmental sustainability. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Newark, New Jersey, and served as an AmeriCorps teaching fellow for two years. Also in New Jersey, she cofounded the environmental nonprofit organization Greener JC and completed an MBA in finance at Rutgers Business School. An avocational writer, she is a former participant in the Evelyn Barish ’56 Poetry Contest. Alisha serves as president of the Bryn Mawr Club of New York City.













































As the leaves begin to turn and we start to don our sweaters, Robert Frost’s words come to mind – “nothing gold can stay”…unless you’re a Mawrter!
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Attend this year’s summer send-off party to welcome incoming Mawrters and their families to the Bryn Mawr College community. This informal gathering is designed to ease the anxiety of leaving home, foster a sense of community amongst alumnae/i and current students, and celebrate being part of Bryn Mawr. It is also a time for parents and family members to build their own support systems as families embark on this journey together. Please register by July 27th.
UPDATE: We had a great group of people thinking pink and having a wonderful time with Barbie!








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