“The passing decades confirm Dean Acheson’s place as the clearest thinking, most effective Secretary of State of the twentieth century. As a writer he has no equal since Thomas Jefferson first occupied the office in the eighteenth century.”
–Gaddis Smith ’54, Larned Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University
The Acheson Prize is awarded for original, unpublished undergraduate essays on international questions broadly understood. Named for Dean Gooderham Acheson ’15, the prize is awarded annually by YRIS, with support from International Security Studies. Mr. Acheson served as Secretary of State from 1949 to 1953. Following his tenure at the State Department, he served on the Yale Corporation. In 1970, he won the Pulitzer Prize in History for his memoir, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department. This prize honors Acheson’s legacy as a thinker, scholar, and public servant.
The following eight finalists published distinguished themselves among a truly excellent pool of over 100 submissions. The essays are published in the Acheson Prize issue (Vol. 3, Issue 2) of the Review.
FIRST PLACE ($750)
Max Nickbarg, (TC ’14) “The United Nations Congo Intervention: A Force of Decolonization”
SECOND PLACE ($500)
Emanuel Marshack (BR ’14), “Caribbean Zomia: Maroonage and State Evasion in the Jamaican Highlands”
THIRD PLACE ($250)
Mary Shi (TC ’14), “Unstable Ground: The 1968 Mexico City Student Protests”
HONORABLE MENTION ($100)
Cassius Clay (BK ’13), “The Cold Arts of War: Visual Shorthand for the ‘Long Telegram’”
Andrew Henderson (SM ’13), “Mapping Divided Berlin: The Politics of Under- and Over- Representation”
Allison Hugi (MC ’13), “Teetering on the Edge: Iraq’s Precarious Hold on Democracy”
Teresa Logue (SY ’15) “‘Hope Springs Eternal?’ Agenda and Idealism in the Symbolization of the S.S. Hope”
Sarah Swong (PC ’15), “The Non-Nicaraguan Reader: Poetry Workshops and the Nicaraguan Revolution”
Finally, the Review would like to thank our distinguished panel of judges:
Dr. Jolyon Howorth is the Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics at the University of Bath.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker is the 2013 Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale’s Johnson Center.
Dr. Amanda Behm is the Associate Director of International Security Studies at Yale.
To view more information about the prize and the original rules governing the competition, click here.