On Wednesday, May 6, 2009, the Hume Writing Center honored Stanford undergraduates and their teachers for exceptional research and oral presentations of research in PWR 1 and PWR 2. This is the second annual award ceremony for the Innovative Research Award (IRA) and Oral Presentation of Research Award (OPRA) award. The IRA award recognizes students for creative use of research material or creative integration of research material into their writing. The OPRA award recognizes students for exceptional oral presentations that attend to all aspects of oral and visual delivery.

The ceremony was organized and introduced by Patti Hanlon-Baker, Assistant Director of the Writing Center. Winners of the IRA were Ross Darwin, for "Bears Online: How Newspapers' Interactive Graphics Exacerbate Fear About the Economy" (Instructor: Sohui Lee) and Jennifer Guisse, for "The Origins of Insanity in Early California: An Analysis of the High Prevalence of Mental Illness in California From 1870-1930" (Instructor: Susan Wyle). Winners of the OPRA were both students of Donna Hunter: Nick Maisonave, for "Performing Identity: How On Stage Performance Can Inform Offstage Life," and Yaa Gyasi for "'Pwn'ing Women--Female Objectification in the Gaming Community."