More than 200 rising 11th and 12th grade students in our National Academy of American History and Civics submitted essays. These entries were reviewed by a panel of our master teachers, with twenty-two finalists then reviewed by a jury of historians.
The twelve prize winners, including links to their entries, are as follows:
First Prize and $10,000: Valerie Gottridge, Birch Wathen Lenox School, New York, NY, for “‘No Jews Are to be Permitted’: Understanding the Context of General Orders No. 11”
Second Prize and $5,000: August Neumann, Marquette University High School, Milwaukee, WI, for “U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark: Barred from His Homeland, One Chinese American’s Fight for Birthright Citizenship”
Third Prize and $1,000 (ten winners, listed alphabetically):
- Olivia Curtis, Wachusett Regional High School, Holden, MA, for “Transcendentalism: A Critique of Today’s World through the Eyes of a Nineteenth-Century Transcendentalist”
- Daphne Glatter, Verona High School, Verona, NJ, for “The 1619 Project and the Federalist Papers”
- Anita Kukeli, The Brooklyn Latin School, Brooklyn, NY, for “Coverture: The Unexpected Feminist Icon”
- Max Leshne, High School for American Studies at Lehman College, Bronx, NY, for “Policy Set Loose in the World: From George Kennan’s Long Telegram to the Vietnam War”
- Victoria Li, Hunter College High School, New York, NY, for “African American Cowboys: A Forgotten Legacy”
- Luisa Metz, Glenbard West High School, Glen Ellyn, IL, for “Stamping Out Hunger: The Evolution of the American Food Stamp Program”
- Ava Ondik, Council Rock High School North, Newtown, PA, for “Healing, Organization, and the Civil War’s Forgotten Hero”
- Henry Pike, Cameron High School, Cameron, WI, for “The Confederate and U.S. Constitutions”
- Ela Sabnis, Nicolet High School, Glendale, WI, for “The Hollywood Ten”
- Katherine Shue, The Paideia School, Atlanta, GA, for “The American Automobile Shapes Its Country”