Washington College Magazine
WC Names Warner Scholar
Erica McDaniel ’05, an environmental studies major with a minor in creative writing, is the 2005 recipient of the William Warner Scholarship, a $2,000 award that acknowledges excellence in environmental writing.
The scholarship was established five years ago by the Friends of Washington College in the name of William Warner, in recognition of his achievements in the genre of natural history and environmental writing. Warner is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay, published in 1976. His more recent work, Into the Porcupine Cave and Other Odysseys, published by the National Geographic Society in 1999, explores the experiences that shaped his life as a naturalist and writer. He has been a Senior Fellow of the College since 1985.
McDaniel, who writes poetry and essays about nature, was nominated for the prize by professors Robert Day and Donald Munson.
“Erica’s writing is of the kind that would meet with William Warner’s approval,” says Day. “She is loving about both words and what in nature those words observe. We thank William Warner and his family, along with other contributors to the Warner Scholarship Fund, for their support. Washington College is better for it; our excellent student Erica McDaniel is better for it.”
“I am grateful to all of those who were instrumental in getting me this award,” she says. “I wasn’t expecting it, and as well as being an honor to get an award named for William Warner, it helps me out with tuition.”
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