Recipient, Individual Excellence Award, Ohio Arts Council, 2024

Recipient, Thomas E. Wenzlau Faculty Award, 2023

Recipient, "Reader's Choice" in nonfiction, the 2022 Ohioana Book Awards

Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2021 edited by Kathryn Schulz

November Book Selection, Good Morning America, Fall 2021

Recipient, Individual Excellence Award, Ohio Arts Council, 2020

Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2020 edited by André Aciman

Recipient, Special Faculty Scholarly Leave, Ohio Wesleyan University, Fall 2019

Grand Prize, The Sonora Review's Flash Prose Contest, judged by Nicole Walker, Fall 2019
Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2018 edited by Hilton Als

Writer-in-Residence, The Vermont Studio Center, 2018

Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2017 edited by Leslie Jamison

Recipient, "Flight Behavior" chosen for inclusion in Best Travel Writing 2016

Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2016 edited by Jonathan Franzen

Recipient, Grand Prize, The Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing of 2016

Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2015 edited by Ariel Levy

Recipient, Thomas E. Wenzlau Faculty Award, 2017

Recipient, The 2014 Iowa Review Award, as selected by guest judge David Shields, Winter 2015

Recipient, Thomas E. Wenzlau Faculty Award, 2015

Writer-in-Residence, The Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Spring 2014

Finalist, Tupelo Quarterly's Prose Contest judged by Matt Bell, Winter 2014

Honorable Mention, The Lindenwood Review's Lyric Essay Contest, Fall 2013

Finalist, "Camera-Flash Contest," American Short Fiction, Summer 2013

Recipient, Olive B. O'Connor Creative Writing Fellowship, Colgate University, Fall 2012-Spring 2013

Recipient, Word Riot Inc. Travel Grant, Fall 2013

Pushcart Prize Nomination, The Colorado Review, 2012

Pushcart Prize Nomination, Hobart, 2012

Recipient, Olive B. O'Connor Creative Writing and Teaching Fellowship, Colgate University, Fall 2012-Spring 2013

Finalist, Hunger Mountain's Creative Nonfiction Contest, Winter 2012

Featured Writer, Longreads, Winter 2012 & Spring 2013

Recipient, Stanley Graduate Award for International Research, Summer 2011

Finalist, Creative Nonfiction's Creative Nonfiction Contest, Fall 2010

Finalist, New Letters’ Dorothy Churchill Cappon Essay Contest, Fall 2010