Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts is honored to announce an award established in memory of Alexander Jay Adam ’07. The Alex Adam ’07 Award, made possible by a generous gift from his family, will provide support to undergraduates who want to spend a summer pursuing a project that will result in the creation of an original work of art.

A gifted student, Adam’s artistic interests focused on creative writing and theater. Acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates, his creative writing professor, praised his work as “sharp-edged, unexpectedly corrosive and very funny.”

“I remember telling him during the workshop,” she said, “as I don’t believe that I have ever told any other student in such circumstances, before or since, that he could have a career as a playwright or a writer of first-rate television scripts.” Adam was also an actor, and performed with the Princeton Shakespeare Company, Theatre Intime and the Program in Theater and Dance. Friends, classmates and fellow students remember Alex Adam as kind and gentle, with a genuine interest in others.

Princeton Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors are eligible for the awards. There will be three $7,000 awards for summer funding in 2011.

The award can be used to support a variety of activities, such as interning at theater or dance festivals; directing, designing, or acting in a show; composing poems or short stories; making short films; or mastering a photographic technique, as long as the activity culminates in the creation or production of an original work.

The application deadline of March 11, 2011 at 3:00 PM has now passed; winners will be notified by email on April 11, 2011.