“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The Acheson Prize is awarded for original, unpublished undergraduate essays on international questions broadly understood.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 the Yale Review of International Studies, 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 six finalists published distinguished themselves among a truly excellent pool of over 100 submissions. The essays are published in the Acheson Prize issue (Vol. 7, Issue 3) of the Review, as well as online.
FIRST PLACE ($500)
Max Goldberg (PC ’17), “Tangled Roots: Migration and Juvenile Crime in China”
SECOND PLACE ($300)
Shammah Koh (BR ’18), “Singapore’s Violations of the Right to the Freedom of Expression and the Universal Applicability of the UDHR”
THIRD PLACE ($200)
Max Cook (MC ’17), “A Reluctant Partnership: Daniel Ortega and His Vexed Relationship with the Nicaraguan Private Sector”
HONORABLE MENTION
Jordan Liebnan (SY ’17), “The Realities of the Rise of an Islamist Group to Power: A Case Study of the 2010 Tunisian Revolution”
Caroline Jo Lynch (JE ’17), “The Political and Economic Implications of Brexit on the Island of Ireland”
Finally, the Review would like to thank our distinguished panel of judges:
Charles Hill is a Distinguished Fellow of International Security Studies at Yale.
Jolyon Howorth is the Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics at the University of Bath.
Jean Krasno is a Distinguished Fellow of International Security Studies at Yale.
Michele L. Malvesti is a Senior Fellow at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.
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.