$55k Prize for Pynch Crit Thesis

[Henry]

Is this a record high prize for a Pynch Crit?  Does anybody know this guy or his thesis?  (Reveal yourself, Marshall.  I'm sure that you read the P-list :-)

WGMD: Delmarva's Local News Source
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Sophie Kerr Prize goes to Berlin, MD studentMon, 22 May 2006 06:18:07 +0000
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A Washington College student from Berlin is the winner of this year?s Sophie Kerr Prize. College officials say 21-year-old Marshall Shord gets a check for $55,907 for a critical thesis on Thomas Pynchon. The Sophie Kerr Prize is named after an Eastern Shore woman who made her fortune in New York, writing women's fiction during the 1930s and 1940s.