Georgia Southern University writing major Taylor Tyson will receive the 2013 Brittany “Ally” Harbuck Scholarship during a reading and reception on Thursday.

At the ceremony, Tyson will read his three original works of fiction, which include a short story, “Sincerely,” a flash fiction, “Reentry,” and a poem, “Skeletal/Industrial.”

“Taylor Tyson’s work does magnificently what good literature is supposed to do, which is land us someplace we’ve never been and turn us loose as changed people. “I was transformed reading him,” Janisse Ray, award winning author, said in a press release.

“Tyson, with his facile prose and gritty style, proves himself a trustworthy guide as he leads us into and out of dangerous territory. His voice is flawless,” Ray said.

Tyson is the fifth recipient of the scholarship endowed by David and Debi Harbuck to honor their daughter, who died in a traffic accident in April 2005.

The Harbuck Scholarship supports sophomore, junior and senior writing majors with at least a 3.0 GPA in their writing courses. To be considered for the scholarship, students must be nominated by faculty in the Department of Writing and Linguistics and must submit 10 to 15 pages of fiction, nonfiction or poetry to the Harbuck Scholarship Committee. The committee narrows the list of applicants to three finalists for judging by an outside author.

Tyson will read from his entries during the ceremony, and members of the Harbuck family will participate in the award presentation. The ceremony will also include readings by Harbuck Scholarship finalists and award nominees.

Jennifer Curington, a senior writing and linguistics major and scholarship finalist will be reading her own original work, “Abnormal.”

“Abnormal,” is a creative non-fiction work about her own personal experience of being diagnosed with HPV, a sexually transmitted disease.

She has some reservations about reading her work to a crowd of strangers.

“It’s more nerve wracking than anything. I really just want to do my professors proud,” Curington said.

Curington said, “It’s very scary, but at the same time it’s a cathartic experience. It’s nice to share your work with others once you get over the jitters.”