ITHACA, N.Y. -- Denïz Omürgönülsen is the top winner of Cornell University School of Hotel Administration's prestigious 2000 Drown Prize.

The Drown Prize, which comes with a $15,000 stipend, was established by hotelier Joseph W. Drown and is presented yearly to the Hotel School student who holds the promise of making a significant contribution to the hospitality industry.

Omürgönülsen, who is from Izmir, Turkey, distinguished herself throughout her four years as an undergraduate at the Hotel School, but perhaps her biggest achievement was acting as the managing director of this year's Hotel Ezra Cornell April 7 through 9.

Considered the premier event at the premier hospitality program in the world, HEC is an extravaganza designed to dazzle hospitality industry pros, many of whom are graduates of the Hotel School themselves. The equivalent of the college all-stars for hotel students, with all the big-league recruiters in attendance, the event was planned more than a year in advance. The students took over the Statler Hotel on campus and ran every aspect of it for the extended weekend, from meal planning and presentation to hotel management.

Omürgönülsen's job involved overall planning of all operations, including marketing, hotel and restaurant functions and budgeting of the event. This year's HEC was allotted $120,000 and engaged about 750 students, close to 90 percent of the school. "It offered the students a wonderful opportunity to network as well as polish their skills," she said.

Omürgönülsen was president of the Cornell Hotel Society's collegiate chapter in 1998-99 and a student representative of the Hotel School at the New York City Hotel Show in 1999 and the Cornell President's Council of Cornell Women's campus meeting in spring 2000.

She was a member of the Quill and Dagger Senior Honorary Society, the lead teaching assistant in the Hotel School Seminar in Independent Restaurant Operations and Food and Wine Pairing courses and a student supervisor of Banfi's Restaurant in the Statler Hotel.

She worked at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, a Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, during the summer of 1999 as a management intern in hotel operations. She interned with Aramark Corp. in New York City during the summer of 1998, where she coordinated catered functions for up to 500 guests. Omürgönülsen became assistant manager of the rooms division at the Pierre Hotel in New York City after she graduated this May.