Gifted young authors get career boost through new endowment honoring fellow writer

Ava Lachini ’24 believes every story has the power to change lives. This spring, her story crossed paths with that of another English graduate from 18 years prior, potentially shaping the course of her future.

Lachini was one of six winners of the 2024 Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Awards, which recognize outstanding seniors majoring in English, creative writing and narrative studies at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The awards honor Jimmy Gauntt, an exceptional writer whose life was tragically cut short in 2008, just two years after earning his USC Dornsife degree.

“I plan to become a professor and study how writers illustrate themes like coping with suffering and the purpose of life, with an emphasis on Romantic literature,” said Lachini. “Winning the award really affirmed my decision to pursue this career.”

Established in 2009 by Gauntt’s mentor David Román, professor of English and American studies and ethnicity at USC Dornsife, the Jimmy Awards received a transformational boost this year with a $100,000 gift from Jimmy’s parents, Hilary and Casey Gauntt, who, together with Jimmy’s sister Brittany Kirby, are USC alumni. Their contribution establishes the Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award Endowment, funding the awards in perpetuity and ensuring that outstanding graduating seniors with a passion for the arts continue to be honored for generations to come.

“Professor Román singled Jimmy out and made him feel worthy,” said Casey Gauntt. “When a professor gives a student that kind of recognition, you get to watch it ignite their passion. We want more students to have that kind of opportunity.”

This May, Lachini and fellow awardees and USC Dornsife alumni Valentina Gomez, Daniela Magaña, Thomas Schmidt, Alison Scott and Reavant Singh, along with the faculty who nominated them, celebrated their awards and the endowment at a dinner reception.

The faculty members introduced their student nominees, explaining why they chose the recipient. In turn, the students shared their experiences at USC, many emphasizing the impact of their professors’ mentorship on their academic journeys.

Students and professors alike say the event has become a cherished tradition. “The professors tell us it’s their favorite time of year,” said Casey Gauntt. “They get to step back and celebrate what brought them to this profession in the first place — nurturing the next generation of writers and thinkers.”

For Magaña, who graduated in 2024 with a degree in narrative studies, the award affirmed that her mentors saw and acknowledged her talent as a writer. “My gratitude — and awe — upon receiving the Jimmy Award is partly rooted in the idea of being known,” she said. “Receiving this recognition as a creative is something that I still cannot quite shake.”

Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Awards honor a life of curiosity and creativity

“Jimmy was an extraordinary individual,” Casey recalls. “From the beginning, he was an overachiever, gifted in both academics and the arts. He had a deep love for jazz saxophone, reading, and writing.”

As an undergraduate at USC Dornsife, Jimmy Gauntt was known for his poetic voice and intellectual curiosity. He initially enrolled as a Spanish major, but his life path shifted in Román’s American literature class, where he wrote a paper on two prominent Broadway playwrights that Román described as “one of the best papers I’d ever read.”

Soon after, Jimmy switched his major to English, fully immersing himself in the literary world that would define his college experience.

When Jimmy was accidentally struck and killed by an automobile at age 24, Román reached out to his parents with a proposal to create an award in their son’s honor — something that would recognize students who embody his curiosity, creativity and commitment to the arts.  Since its inception, there have been 91 recipients of the Jimmy Awards.

Gauntt Memorial Award Endowment supports future storytellers

In recent years, USC Dornsife’s English Department has become increasingly competitive, attracting a diverse and talented cohort of students and faculty alike.

With the Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award Endowment, the Gauntt family hopes to continue to elevate the English Department’s role in nurturing well-rounded, articulate individuals prepared for diverse paths.

“The best students in my law classes were English majors,” said Casey Gauntt. “They knew how to think, how to write and how to look deeper into things.”

As Magaña reflects: “To be able to share and celebrate Jimmy’s indomitable spirit and heart is an honor I will carry with me wherever I go.”