First Place: | $500 awarded to Jane Carroll Clayton |
Second Place: | $100 awarded to Taylor Ball |
$100 awarded to Allegra Padula | |
Third Place: | $50 awarded to Mary Grace Hren |
$50 awarded to Anh Le |
We are excited to celebrate our fifth year of the Big Mind Learning Essay Contest, and we are, as ever, deeply impressed by the level of honesty, awareness and thoughtfulness of the writers. This year we received more essays than ever before, and we sincerely appreciate all of the submissions from six New York counties: Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie.
As we increased our judges this year to a team of seven, we engaged in many hours of discussion about our selections, made difficult because of the eloquence, maturity and intelligence of the many writers. Each essay received multiple readings by each of the judges, and we honor all students who take their written expression very seriously and submitted their essays.
We look forward to the continued interest next year of dozens of high schools as we continue to discover wonderful high school writing and help bring it to light.
This year the winning First Place essay gained the following comment from the judges:
"This essayist showed a masterful sense of dramatic movement and illustrated this change through time with the assurance of a true fiction writer. The essay incorporated quotes skillfully and inverted the usual student-teacher roles in a very surprising way. In addition, with its creativity and interesting use of language, the writing truly moved and delighted us."
Read the winning essays by clicking on each name.
Winning essays from previous years can be accessed by clicking on one of the links to the left.
First Place: |
Jane Carroll Clayton, Jefferson Central School, Schoharie County |
Second Place: |
Taylor Ball, Schoharie Central High School, Schoharie County |
Third Place: |
Mary Grace Hren, Hoosic Valley High School, Rensselaer County |
Honorable Mention: |
Cameron Schultz, Schoharie Central High School |
Abby Serfilippi | Academy of the Holy Names |
Alyssa Paul | Hoosic Valley High School |
Andrew Morrison | Schoharie Central High School |
Andrew Guzi | Shenendehowa Central High School |
Bryce Perry | Maple Hill High School |
Dakota Francis | Schoharie Central High School |
Diamante Moultrie | Lansingburgh High School |
Gabrielle Danthine | Schoharie Central High School |
Julia Schantz | Niskayuna High School |
Kristin Connolly | Troy High School |
Marisol Ramirez | Academy of the Holy Names |
Michelle Luo | Colonie Central High School |
Morghan Albright | Schoharie Central High School |
Noah Levine | Niskayuna High School |
Rachel Franchini | Academy of the Holy Names |
Rachel Randazzo | Schoharie Central High School |
Robert Davies | South Glens Falls Senior High School |
Samantha Leahon | Maple Hill High School |
Samuel Engel | Chatham High School |
Sarah Mitchell | Academy of the Holy Names |
Skylar Luu | Shaker High School |
The contest essay team at Big Mind Learning is comprised of the following judges giving tirelessly of their intelligence, acuity and talent. Many thanks to Claire Hughes, Jeanne Finley, Maureen McCauley, Phyllis Hillinger, Tina Lincer, and Tom Morrissey. We are so grateful for their spirit and good judgment.
Claire Hughes is a journalist who has written and edited for newspapers, magazines and websites for 25 years. She currently covers health for the Albany Times Union.
Jeanne Finley is a freelance writer, editor, photographer and passionate gardener. With a background in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, she is currently assistant editor of New York Archives magazine. One of her photographs won a prize at the 37th Annual Photography Regional in Albany.
Maureen McCauley is an attorney and writer who lives in the Capital District. She writes fiction and non-fiction and is currently completing a memoir.
Phyllis Hillinger worked as a writer and editor for many not-for-profit organizations in Albany, NY before exploring creative writing in all its forms. She has published her poetry in several magazines and journals and has contributed Listener Essays to WAMC Public Radio.
Tina Lincer is associate director of Communications at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Her feature articles and essays have been published in numerous national and local newspapers, magazines and anthologies. Her personal essays have aired on WAMC Public Radio.
Tom Morrissey, one of our technical support geniuses, doubles as a careful editor of poetry and non-fiction. He is employed as a Resource Manager at Hewlett Packard.
Alex Brownell, our webmaster and Math Program Consultant, makes this contest work seamlessly through cyberspace. We are so grateful for his help.