2020 David McCullough Essay Prizes Winners

2020 David McCullough Essay Prizes Winners

2020 Winners

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-three finalists then reviewed by a jury of historians.

Place Name Essay Title School  State
1st Valerie Gottridge “‘No Jews Are to be Permitted’: Understanding the Context of General Orders No. 11” Birch Wathen Lenox School NY
2nd August Neumann “U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark: Barred from His Homeland, One Chinese American’s Fight for Birthright Citizenship” Marquette University High School WI
3rd Olivia Curtis “Transcendentalism: A Critique of Today’s World through the Eyes of a Nineteenth-Century Transcendentalist” Wachusett Regional High School MA
3rd Daphne Glatter “The 1619 Project and the Federalist Papers” Verona High School NJ
3rd Anita Kukeli “Coverture: The Unexpected Feminist Icon” The Brooklyn Latin School NY
3rd Max Leshne “Policy Set Loose in the World: From George Kennan’s Long Telegram to the Vietnam War” High School for American Studies at Lehman College NY
3rd Victoria Li “African American Cowboys: A Forgotten Legacy” Hunter College High School NY
3rd Luisa Metz “Stamping Out Hunger: The Evolution of the American Food Stamp Program” Glenbard West High School IL
3rd Ava Ondik “Healing, Organization, and the Civil War’s Forgotten Hero” Council Rock High School North PA
3rd Henry Pike “The Confederate and U.S. Constitutions” Cameron High School WI
3rd Ela Sabnis “The Hollywood Ten” Nicolet High School WI
3rd Katherine Shue “The American Automobile Shapes Its Country” The Paideia School GA