Undergraduate Writers’ Conference

The Undergraduate Writers’ Conference provides undergraduate students a forum to share and discuss their writing with other peers. Benefits of participation include:

  • Conference Discussion Sessions
    • Build community with other fellow writers in small discussion groups.
  • Awards Ceremony and Banquet
    • Enjoy dinner at USC Town & Gown in celebration with all participants.
    • The most outstanding works will be recognized with First Prizes of $1000 and Second Prizes of $500.
    • Entrants may also receive recognition from the USC Schwarzenegger Institute. 
  • Getting Published Online

Conference participants must submit their work under one of the following writing categories:

  • Professional Writing/Moral Reasoning
  • Analytical Essay
  • Research Essay
  • Creative Work

Upcoming Dates & Deadlines

Program Details

Each year, the Writers’ Conference awards First and Second prizes for outstanding work in each of the four writing categories. Additional recognition includes Honorable Mentions and awards from the USC Schwarzenegger Institute.

Eligibility & Registration

Eligibility & Registration

Entrants must be current undergraduate students at USC. You may enter up to one work in each category and are eligible for one prize in a single category for this conference. Your entry will compete against other works in the same category. You must also be able to attend the Conference Discussion Session and Banquet to maintain eligibility for prize consideration.

Category Descriptions

  • Professional Writing/Moral Reasoning: Papers about ethical dimensions of your discipline or future profession. Examples include: Marshall white papers; Annenberg analyses of media industries; International Relations problem-based essays; Philosophy papers; some English & cultural studies essays; WRIT 340 pre-law briefs or memos; researched essays; some GE category C/6 essays; some GE category B/2 essays.
  • Analytical Essay: Thesis-driven essays and editorials; use of theoretical and conceptual models; critical theory; close readings of primary text(s); evaluation of books, film, and other media; furthering or interrogating established truths or concepts.
  • Research Essay: Multiple source bibliography; hypothesis testing; evidence/data-based argumentation; reviews of academic literature and existing scientific inquiry.
  • Creative Work: Short stories, screenplays, collections of poetry, scripts for performance art, one-act plays, multimedia.

Additional awards are sponsored by the USC Schwarzenegger Institute.

Submission Formatting

Submission Formatting

Submissions must adhere to the following format parameters:

  • 40 pages max per submission.
  • PDF format only.
  • There is a 1000MB/1GB limit for each submission.
  • Double-spaced is the preferred format with the exception of poetry and screenwriting.
Conference Discussion Sessions

Conference Discussion Sessions

The Conference Discussion Sessions take place from 6:00-6:50 pm on campus. Participants are assigned discussion groups and classroom locations a few days prior to the event.

Each discussion group consists of 3-5 students with a session moderator. Students’ works are shared with the group a few days prior to the session. Group members will have the opportunity to share their writing with each other and receive live feedback.

At the start of the session, you are encouraged to give a short oral introduction of your work to the group (no more than five minutes). The session is meant to be discussion-based, so PowerPoints and other multimedia presentations are not used as part of your introduction.

Awards Ceremony & Banquet

Awards Ceremony & Banquet

The Awards Ceremony & Banquet will take place from 7:00-9:00 pm, immediately following the Conference Discussion Sessions.

The evening program will include dinner, a keynote address, and announcements of prize recipients in all categories. Student publications will also be present to meet with participants interested in having their works published online.

Judging & Prizes

Judging & Prizes

Judges are USC faculty members primarily from the USC Writing Program. Each category has a panel of 2-6 judges, who are assigned based on their respective expertise in each of the writing categories. Judges review all entries in their category prior to conference day.

The judges will award the following prizes:

  • First Prize (All Categories): One $1000 First Prize will be awarded in each of four writing categories.
  • Second Prize (All Categories): One $500 Second Prize will be awarded in each of four writing categories.
  • USC Schwarzenegger Institute Award: The USC Schwarzenegger Institute will also award prizes to students whose work proposes real world solutions to serious policy challenges and improves the lives of people and communities with regard to issues in education, environment & energy, or political reform.

Prize Recipients

Each year, the Writers’ Conference awards First and Second prizes for outstanding work in each of the four writing categories. Additional recognition includes Honorable Mentions and awards from the USC Schwarzenegger Institute.

Student NameYearAward CategoryAward TypeProject Title
Maya Reyna2021Analytical Essay1st PrizeI'd Rather Live Through "La Chona" Than Laud "Choral"
Sydney Gamble2021Analytical Essay2nd PrizeConstructive Criticism and the Counter-Work
Emma Taulli2021Analytical EssayHonorable MentionNature Trumps Nurture: The Individual as Property Under Capitalism in Orphan Black
Alia Atkins2021Creative Work1st PrizeAnother Other
Lela Ni2021Creative Work2nd PrizeThe Radius of Grief
Ryan Nhu2021Creative WorkHonorable MentionSpare Change
Alexis Pinela2021Moral Reasoning/Professional1st PrizeWindow into Wiradjuri Life
Keon Sanaie2021Moral Reasoning/Professional2nd PrizeCondemn the Monster, Condone the Art
Mia Speier2021Moral Reasoning/ProfessionalHonorable MentionThe Question of Intervention: Obama, Qadhafi and Operation Odyssey Dawn
Mahima Chillakanti2021Research Essay1st PrizeA Community-Centric Approach to Typhoon Preparedness and Risk Management: Beta-testing ‘Bayanihan' in Catanduanes, Philippines
Manushri Desai2021Research Essay1st PrizeA Community-Centric Approach to Typhoon Preparedness and Risk Management:  Beta-testing ‘Bayanihan' in Catanduanes, Philippines
Mihir Kumar2021Research Essay1st PrizeA Community-Centric Approach to Typhoon Preparedness and Risk Management:  Beta-testing ‘Bayanihan' in Catanduanes, Philippines
Cameron Levine2021Research Essay1st PrizeA Community-Centric Approach to Typhoon Preparedness and Risk Management:  Beta-testing ‘Bayanihan' in Catanduanes, Philippines
Nika Shroff2021Research Essay1st PrizeA Community-Centric Approach to Typhoon Preparedness and Risk Management:  Beta-testing ‘Bayanihan' in Catanduanes, Philippines
Rosa Noriega-Rocha2021Research Essay2nd PrizeThe racial formation of fresa ville: the ongoing racialization and objectification of Indigenous farmworkers in Watsonville
Elizabeth Nguyen2021Research EssayHonorable MentionA Review on the Role of iPSCs and Chimera-Based Approaches to Pancreatic Islet Transplantation in Treatment for Diabetes Mellitus
Natalie Briones2021USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeLong Lines, Crowded Places: Early Voting Access in Texas
Pratik Thakur2021USC Schwarzenegger Institute2nd PrizeImproving Health in South Los Angeles by Reducing Local Oil Development
Finley Davis2021USC Schwarzenegger InstituteHonorable MentionReforms to the issues of prison gerrymandering in the state of Louisiana
Lucy Allen2020Analytical Essay1st PrizeTotally Free: Pleasure and Liberation in The Living End
Megan Ritchie2020Analytical Essay2nd PrizePoliticizing Scots: An Exploration of the Use of Dialect in Literature
Dara Phung2020Analytical EssayHonorable MentionExclusionary Zoning: An Illness of Many Symptoms
Joseph Debaerien2020Creative Work1st PrizeBus Stop Poems
Lela Ni2020Creative Work2nd PrizeThe Art of the In-Between
Shirin Herzig2020Creative WorkHonorable Mentionyet here we are (alive)
Ryan Nhu2020Creative WorkHonorable MentionBlown: Fragments
Catherine Knox2020Professional/Moral Reasoning1st PrizeImplementing Ethics in Transboundary Water Management
Hailey Robertson2020Professional/Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeLeveraging Freedom Against Motherhood: A Case Study of U.S v. Summer Thyme Creel and Sterilization as a Sentencing Mitigation Factor
Kurtis Weatherford2020Professional/Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionComing Down from the Mountains: John Major and the Decision to Intervene in Iraq
Ellen Murray2020Research Essay1st PrizeAesthetic Decolonization: Magic Realism and Rewriting Postcolonial Trauma in Briar Grace-Smith's Purapurawhet?
Manushri Desai2020Research Essay2nd PrizeA Holistic Approach to Treating Obstetric Fistulas: Beta-testing 'RESTORE' in the Gumla District of Jharkhand, India
Mihir Kumar2020Research Essay2nd PrizeA Holistic Approach to Treating Obstetric Fistulas: Beta-testing 'RESTORE' in the Gumla District of Jharkhand, India
Mahima Chillakanti2020Research Essay2nd PrizeA Holistic Approach to Treating Obstetric Fistulas: Beta-testing 'RESTORE' in the Gumla District of Jharkhand, India
Nika Shroff2020Research Essay2nd PrizeA Holistic Approach to Treating Obstetric Fistulas: Beta-testing 'RESTORE' in the Gumla District of Jharkhand, India
Jason Collines2020Research EssayHonorable MentionBecoming Graceful Figures: The Gothic and Moral Epistemology in the Nineteenth-Century British Novel
Jacob Lester2020USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeAir Pollution in the United States: Pertinent Trends and Policy Prescriptions
Alexis Areias2020USC Schwarzenegger Institute2nd PrizeA Proposal to Eliminate Gerrymandering in Texas
Jack Strauss2019Analytical Essay1st PrizeIt's All Part of the Plan: The CCP's Playbook for Homogenizing Chinese Society
Amanda Douglas2019Analytical Essay2nd PrizeArtemesia Gentileschi's Susanna and the Elders: A Missing Link in Poussin's Chain of Artistic Lineages
Laura Russell2019Analytical Essay2nd PrizeIt's Life or Death: The Legal Dangers of Expletive "It"
Adam Karelin2019Analytical EssayHonorable MentionThe Portrayal of Russian Messianism through Binary Contrasts in Vasily Grossman's Hell of Treblinka
Annie Ly2019Analytical EssayHonorable MentionAnalysis of Jacobean Witchcraft Plays: Witchcraft as a Mechanism of Resolution
Kanak Kapur2019Creative Work1st PrizeGirls: Poems
Zoe Correa2019Creative Work2nd PrizeNena
Jensen McRae2019Creative Work2nd PrizeManic Pixie American Dream
Simran Jehani2019Creative WorkHonorable MentionThe Skimmer – Short Film
Yijing Luo2019Creative WorkHonorable MentionTrembling Through
Yi Youn Kim2019Professional/Moral Reasoning1st PrizeKilling Affirmative Action Won't Fix Harvard's Prejudiced Admissions
Manushri Desai2019Professional/Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeDisability Rights in LDCs: Increasing accountability and transparency of USAID through DPOs
Noor Alwani2019Professional/Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionDoes Humanitarian Action Prolong Conflict?
Mai Mizuno2019Professional/Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionOrange Juice with a Side of Police Brutality
Anna Lipscomb2019Research Essay1st PrizeTaste of Asia: Gastrodiplomacy in Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan
Lillian Dyre2019Research Essay2nd PrizeMalnutrition in India: A Case Study of Rural and Urban Regions
Rae Lan2019Research Essay2nd PrizeMalnutrition in India: A Case Study of Rural and Urban Regions
Aarohi Mahableshwarkar2019Research Essay2nd PrizeMalnutrition in India: A Case Study of Rural and Urban Regions
Dustin Chi Kan Wong2019Research EssayHonorable MentionCreating an LA Metro Rider's Experience
Chandler Zausner2019Research EssayHonorable MentionThe Manga is the Message: Redrawing Social Boundaries for Japan's Hikikomori Youth
Hannah Hunt2019USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st Prize"Senator, We Run Ads": Facebook Advertisements and Political Microtargeting
Diana Kruzman2019USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeA Toxic Breeze
Angelina Sophonpanich2018Analytical Essay1st PrizeHearing History: Iterations of Modern Identity Politics in Philip Metres' "Sand Opera" and Monica Ong's "Silent Anatomies"
Max Kapur2018Analytical Essay2nd Prize"When I Turn into a Leaf and Empty Myself": Trees, Transcendence, and the Ecopoetic Imagination in Contemporary Korean Poetry
Garrison Hall2018Analytical EssayHonorable MentionA Theoretical Analysis of Gonzales v. Carhart
Kanak Kapur2018Creative Work1st PrizeIn the Kitchen
Jensen McRae2018Creative Work2nd PrizeRequiem for Bundy
Diana Postolache2018Creative WorkHonorable Mentionscrap metal & white space
Olivia Steinkamp2018Professional / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeWandering Thoughtfully Through the 21st Century: The Evolution of Benjamin's Flaneur
Mary Hickman2018Professional / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeSpanish Politics and Religious Monuments: The Case of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba
Sonali Seth2018Professional / Moral ReasoningHonorable Mention"The Library Cad of Morning Glory High" Memorandum
Rosebud Campion2018Research Essay1st PrizeForging the Folk: The Development of a National Musical Identity in Edwardian England
Lauren Brackmann2018Research Essay2nd PrizeArctic Stewardship: Treaties and Regimes
Hanna Fahsholtz2018Research Essay2nd PrizeArctic Stewardship: Treaties and Regimes
Alanna Schenk2018Research Essay2nd PrizeArctic Stewardship: Treaties and Regimes
Alejandro Schugurensky2018Research EssayHonorable MentionCharter Schools and the Growing Opportunity Gap in California
Robert Tseng2018USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics1st PrizeLinkage between business ethical values and access to capital: Comparative analysis of Kyrgyzstan, China, and the United Stat
Brianna Johnson2018USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-Making1st Prize"Mother, May I Come?": Angela Merkel and the 2015 European Refugee Crisis
Laura Russell2018USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics1st PrizeLinguistic Conmen: Issues and Ethics on the Witness Stand
Oliver Dare2018USC Levan Institute - Social Justice1st PrizeThe Surveillance Game: How to Hide from Surveillance Seekers in the Modern Era
Sebastian Walter Young2018USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeBlackouts and Bills
Alexandra Demetriou2018USC Schwarzenegger Institute2nd PrizeSeeking a cure for Governmentitis
Antonia Matias-Bell2017Analytical Essay1st PrizeCompression, Expansion, Magic, and Loss: Digitization in Museums
Anastasia Barbato2017Analytical Essay2nd PrizeTechnically Feminine: A Study of the Role of the Female Android in Fritz Lang's Metropolis
Max Kapur2017Analytical EssayHonorable MentionFour Glimpses of Han in Lisa Lee's Fiction
Xueyou Wang2017Creative Work1st PrizeStories about my father
Nathaniel Gualtieri2017Creative Work2nd PrizeImperfect Machines
Karen Garcia2017Creative WorkHonorable MentionMetamorphosis
Will Drickey2017Creative WorkHonorable MentionParabellum
Soobin Kim2017Professional / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeBus Shelters in Los Angeles
Blair Thoman2017Professional / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeAcquisition of Consent in Harmony Korine's Kids
Jennifer Smart2017Professional / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionHow We Learned to Stop Worrying and Forget the Bomb
Bethany Balchunas2017Research Essay1st PrizeCodifying Exoticism: Race and French Colonial Policy in West Africa, 1910 to 1918
Jacob Silverman2017Research Essay2nd Prize"I Looked and Looked but Failed to See What So Terrified You": Agency and the Double Self in Junot Díaz's This Is How You Lose Her
Morgan Mamon2017Research EssayHonorable MentionIbn Khald?n in Translation: An Examination of J?l in Franz Rosenthal's Muqaddimah
Trevor Kehrer2017USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics1st PrizeOpening Pandora's Box
Bailee Ahern2017USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics2nd PrizeThe Radicalization of Western Women: Adopting Gender-Specific Methods to Combat ISIL
Laila Naraghi2017USC Levan Institute - Global EthicsHonorable MentionOrganic Farming, Biopiracy and the Neem Tree, and Plant-Based Diets: How the "Green Movement" Exploits Women in Developing Nations
Adrian Lurie2017USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-Making1st PrizeTweens in Transition
Christina Nursalim2017USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-Making2nd PrizeThe Call for More Orphan Drug Research Funding
Olivia Cordell2017USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-MakingHonorable Mention(Mis)Casting Race at USC: A Self-Perpetuating Ethical Dilemma
Calvin Boyd2017USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics1st PrizeThe Architecture of Captivity: The Inescapable Dilemma of Design
Logan Austin2017USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics2nd PrizeThe Commodification of Love in the American Cinema
Fiona Sequeira2017USC Levan Institute - Professional EthicsHonorable MentionThe True Future of Tech: Why Women Must Forget the Glass Slipper and Shatter the Glass Ceiling
Preethi Chaudhari2017USC Levan Institute - Social Justice1st PrizeEconomic Mobility in Higher Education: A Right or a Privilege?
Garrett Nance2017USC Levan Institute - Social Justice2nd PrizeHow Judge Bias Contributes to Racial Disparities and What Can Be Done to Help
Maryalice Peng2017USC Levan Institute - Social JusticeHonorable MentionThe Legal Whore Stigma: Punishing, Not Protecting Prostitutes
Max Hill2017USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeClimate Resilience in the Arctic Fishing Industry
Alya Omar2017USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeClimate Resilience in the Arctic Fishing Industry
Austin Reagan2017USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeClimate Resilience in the Arctic Fishing Industry
Holly Bard2017USC Schwarzenegger Institute2nd PrizeKalama Harris Presidential Playbook
Gabriella (Rica) Maestas2016Analytical Essay1st PrizeThe Margins of a City
Scott Huhn2016Analytical Essay2nd PrizeDoes Uber Have and IPO Problem?
Sydney Fishman2016Analytical EssayHonorable MentionFake Guns, Real Money: Conspicuous Consumption and Identity Building in Virtual Communities
Monina Varela2016Creative Work1st PrizeBelly
Nathaniel Gualtieri2016Creative Work2nd PrizeThe Keeper of Half-Missing Men
Alexa Aman2016Creative WorkHonorable MentionThe Names of Their Fathers
Jane Kim2016Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeMaternal Health in Nigeria
Max Kapur2016Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeHall v. Florida: A Cauldron of Scientific Jurisprudence?
Yume Nishi2016Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionCrumpling Bad Hospitals with Evidence-Based Design
Jennifer Bailey2016Research Essay1st PrizeMental Illness Among the Homeless and Incarcerated of Los Angeles
William Orr2016Research Essay2nd PrizeFrom Shangri-La to Silver Screen: The Myth of Precision Bombing and the Doolittle Raid
Chloe Borenstein-Lawee2016Research EssayHonorable MentionUnsung Heroes: Jewish Women and Non-Violent Holocaust Resistance in France
Diana Ciraulo2016USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics1st PrizeThe Price of Bleaching the Great Barrier Reef: A Moral and Economic Assessment
Lilly Taing2016USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics2nd PrizeThe Effects of the Western Garment Industry on Cambodia and Cambodian Women
Miranda Drolet2016USC Levan Institute - Global EthicsHonorable MentionLiberated Queer, Repressed Muslim: the Problem with Pinkwashing Palestine
Max Kapur2016USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-Making1st PrizeHall v. Florida: A Cauldron of Scientific Jurisprudence?
Mingkun Chen2016USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-Making2nd PrizeTacit Tactics from Values to Actions
Ariana Aboulafia2016USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-MakingHonorable MentionThe Minority Rule: A Thoreauian Guide to the Proper Practice of Civil Disobedience
Emily Livermore2016USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics1st PrizeFilm's Construction of a White Male World
Christina Nursalim2016USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics2nd PrizeInterventions to Stop Medicine from Being Racist: Solving Racial Healthcare Disparities
Julianna Paul2016USC Levan Institute - Professional EthicsHonorable MentionForgetting to Care: Declining Empathy Rates in Medical Students
Jennifer Smart2016USC Levan Institute - Social Justice1st PrizeSpace for Aces: Finding a Home in a Sexual World
Sivakami Ananthasingam2016USC Levan Institute - Social Justice2nd PrizeCivilian Heath Care in War-Torn Regions: A Look into Violence Against Women in Sri Lanka and Iraq
John Hochschild2016USC Levan Institute - Social JusticeHonorable MentionReducing Implicit Bias in the American Judicial System
Alex Teboul2016USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeChoosing Profits Over Patient Health With Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Medication
Jennifer Bailey2016USC Schwarzenegger Institute2nd PrizeMental Illness Among the Homeless and Incarcerated of Los Angeles
Mingkun Chen2016USC Schwarzenegger InstituteHonorable MentionTacit Tactics From Values to Actions
Proanne Liao2015Analytical Essay1st PrizeThe Margins of a City
Maria Fish2015Analytical Essay2nd PrizeThe Tragedies of Others: Images, Power and Politics
Janella Lee2015Analytical Essay2nd PrizeThe Women Made Them Do It: The Fallacies and Truths Behind Shakespeare's Villainous Women in Hamlet and Macbeth
Orli Robin2015Analytical EssayHonorable MentionThe Fading and Falling Women of Israel: An Exploration of Rama Burshstein's Fill the Void
Carrie Moore2015Creative Work1st PrizePlaying Possum
Monina Varela2015Creative Work2nd PrizeThe Things We Did In Texas
John Foraker2015Creative Work2nd PrizeUsing
Remaya Campbell2015Creative WorkHonorable MentionOpenly Black, a memoir in freeverse
Matthew Prusak2015Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeThe ‘Gorilla Economy': The Emergence of the Rwandan Development Model
Sean Elezra2015Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeThe Test of Times: Interpreting New York Times v. Sullivan Amidst Social, Political Unrest
Denni Chen2015Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionFrom Bronze Soldier to Cyber Crimes – Conflicts between Estonia and Russia
Nicholas Farmer2015Research Essay1st PrizeWhere One Font Sent the World into an Uproar, a New Font Seeks Redemption: Enter Comic Neue
Francesca Bessey2015Research Essay2nd PrizeAsteroids Know No Borders: International Solutions for an International Menace
Patrick Cleland2015Research EssayHonorable MentionFrom Farce to Art: Sources and Evolution of the Shakespearian Twin Trope
Engie Salama2015USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics1st PrizeTRIPS and India: Navigating Intellectual Property Rights for Antiretroviral Therapy Affordability
William Orr2015USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics2nd PrizeReckless and Indiscriminate: The Impact of Japanese Bombing in the Second Sino-Japanese War on Pre-World War II American Morality
Francesca Bessey2015USC Levan Institute - Global EthicsHonorable MentionMothers Made Midwives: A Bottom-Up Solution for Top-Down Disempowerment
Paxton Hall2015USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-Making1st PrizeThe Black Island of USC: What It Means to Be African American at an Elite University
Ryan Townsend2015USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-Making2nd PrizeDon't Free Willy: The Case for Captive Orcas
Lisa Dorrington2015USC Levan Institute - Moral Decision-MakingHonorable MentionInterpreting the Ethicality of Occupation Therapy Practice
Jordan Bidwell2015USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics1st PrizeProfessor, Would You Share Your Thoughts on Beta-Blockers?
Mathew Goldstein2015USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics2nd PrizePicked Off: Baseball's Discriminatory Latin-American Practices
David Zhang2015USC Levan Institute - Professional EthicsHonorable MentionIs the "Right to be Forgotten" Ruling Ethical
Madison Harris2015USC Levan Institute - Social Justice1st PrizeWhy Air Quality is a Race Issue
Cameron Espinoza2015USC Levan Institute - Social Justice2nd PrizeLaicite and Liberalism: Militant or Modest Separation?
Mark Lee2015USC Levan Institute - Social JusticeHonorable MentionHypermasculine Homosexual Heterosexuals
Thomas Winschel2015USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeThe Importance of Humanities to Humanity
Dat Pham2015USC Schwarzenegger Institute2nd PrizeMalnutrition in the United States and How to Improve the SNAP Program
Haylie Chu2015USC Schwarzenegger InstituteHonorable MentionProposal to Change the Regulations of Bottled Water to Reflect EPA's Standards of Tap Water
Yihui (Ashley) Yang2014Analytical Essay1st PrizeDear Female Chauvinist Pigs: You're Not Actually Men
Brian Lentz2014Analytical Essay2nd PrizeModern Implications of Nazi Human Experimentation: The Hippocratic Oath and Hypocrisy in Medicine
Rabia Kaiser2014Analytical EssayHonorable MentionUntitled
Allegra Tepper2014Analytical EssayHonorable MentionLizzie in Real Life: Social and Narrative Immersion through Transmedia in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Orli Robin2014Creative Work1st PrizeTwirl
Monina Varela2014Creative Work2nd PrizeThe Incredible Winter of Watauga County
Carrie Moore2014Creative WorkHonorable MentionEuola
Mia Galuppo2014Creative WorkHonorable MentionHigher Brain Function
Matthew Prusak2014Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeThe Need for Economic Engagement with North Korea
James Luhrs2014Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeMedia Morte En Vida Sumus: A Historical, Psychological, and Literary Analysis of Public Attitudes on Grief and Mourning
Claire Baugher2014Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionCase Summary
Oriah Amit2014Research Essay1st PrizePutting Women on the Map: Regendering the Road in Literature and Film
Candice Tardif2014Research Essay2nd PrizeJoining at the Front: British Women's Literary Responses to the First World War
Catherine Gavin2014Research EssayHonorable MentionAural Sex: The Sound of the Female Orgasm in Pornography and Popular Music
Matthew Prusak2014USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics1st PrizeThe Need for Economic Engagement with North Korea
Engie Salama2014USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics2nd PrizeTraditional Medicine, Pharmaceutical Patents and Intellectual Property Rights in India: Exploring Islamic Law & Moral Rights
Morgan Cheeks2014USC Levan Institute - Global EthicsHonorable MentionThe Swiss Healthcare System: A Consumer-Driven Alternative to Employer-Based Health Insurance
Brian Lentz2014USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics1st PrizeMedicine Demands More Than an Oath
Katherine Zopatti2014USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics2nd PrizeChildren in the Courtroom as Witnesses
Kristen Nakashioya2014USC Levan Institute - Professional EthicsHonorable MentionTerrorism and the Media: Rolling Stone's Boston Bomber Cover
Thomas Armstrong2014USC Levan Institute - Social Justice1st PrizeInternal Migration in China: An Investigation of Hukou and State Social Policy
Anessa Ibrahim2014USC Levan Institute - Social Justice2nd PrizeWords Hurt: The Harmful Discourse of Grutter v Bollinger
Grace Carballo2014USC Levan Institute - Social JusticeHonorable MentionN/A
Joshua Hwang2014USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeOutdoor Air Pollution: From Evidence to Comprehensive Action
Lauren Taymor2014USC Schwarzenegger Institute2nd PrizeSolving the Plastic Problem
Nichole Delaura2013Analytical EssayHonorable MentionCountercultural Noir
Amanda Griffiths2013Analytical Essay2nd PrizeEnds and Meanings: Si guarda al fine and Machiavellian Virtue
Adam Phillips2013Analytical Essay1st PrizeNeon Cowboy: A Brief History and Analysis of The Man with No Name As Seen in Hammett, Kurosawa, Leone, and Nicolas Winding Refn's Film Drive
Hayden Bennett2013Creative WorkHonorable MentionFurniture Music
William Hagberg2013Creative WorkHonorable MentionCollection of poems (Untitled)
Sean Fitz-Gerald2013Creative Work2nd PrizeThe Boogeymen
Eric Weintraub2013Creative Work1st PrizeLa Laguna
Emily Holmes2013Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionCommodifying Humanity: The Ethics of an Open Market for Human Organs
Maheen Sahoo2013Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeKant and Hume: A Tale of Two Philosophers
Vellore Adithi2013Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeBeyond Victimhood, Relief, and Bare Life: Assessing the Pitfalls and Perils of Humanitarianism in Global Development
Kelsey Bradshaw2013Research EssayHonorable MentionThe 16 Years Crisis: Security, Geopolitics, and Conflict in the Arctic
Jason Finkelstein2013Research EssayHonorable MentionThe 16 Years Crisis: Security, Geopolitics, and Conflict in the Arctic
Nicholas Kosturos2013Research EssayHonorable MentionThe 16 Years Crisis: Security, Geopolitics, and Conflict in the Arctic
Nithya Kubendran2013Research EssayHonorable MentionHemodynamic Pressure Sensors as a Diagnostic Tool in Physiological Monitoring
Evan Cohen2013Research EssayHonorable MentionHemodynamic Pressure Sensors as a Diagnostic Tool in Physiological Monitoring
Jordan Nowaskie2013Research Essay2nd PrizePost-Porn Culture: The Effects of Sexual Media on Social Relationships, Identities, and Desire
Roza Petrosyan2013Research Essay1st PrizeVoiceless Heroes: Female Resistance during the Armenian Genocide
Francesca Bessey2013USC Levan Institute - Global Ethics1st PrizeFree To Die: The Sexist Paradox of Women's Suicide Terror
Paige Sorrentino2013USC Levan Institute - Personal Ethics1st PrizeDante's Inferno--Canto 12.5
Uriel Kim2013USC Levan Institute - Professional Ethics1st PrizeNo More Pointing Fingers: Science and Regulation Needed for Fingerprinting's Future
Candice Tardif2013USC Levan Institute - Social Justice1st PrizeAllergic Inmates: Unheard and Unsafe
Marissa Roy2013USC Levan Institute - Overall1st PrizeThe UN's 8 Millenium Development Goals and the Legal Status of Distributive Justice
Nahel Kapadia2013USC Schwarzenegger InstituteHonorable MentionPalliative Care: An Alternative to Physician-Assisted Suicide
Kim Vu2013USC Schwarzenegger Institute2nd PrizeLearning to Choose – Who Decides and How to Decide about Advanced Directives
Ambrose Soehn2013USC Schwarzenegger Institute1st PrizeWhy Providing Every Student a Quality Music Education Makes So Much Sense
Michael Onorati2012Analytical EssayHonorable MentionAn Invader of Privacy: Gene Hackman in "The Conversation"
Lindsey Smith2012Analytical Essay2nd PrizeZozobra: The Reassuring Death of the Other
Nicholas Farmer2012Analytical Essay1st PrizeThe Quirky Adventures of Margot and Her Little Pink Glove
Ruth Madievsky2012Creative WorkHonorable MentionUp in Flames (short story)
Sarah Ingerson2012Creative WorkHonorable MentionUnPretty (poetry collection)
Anthony Decapite2012Creative Work2nd PrizeThe Divide (screenplay)
Brenda Yang2012Creative Work2nd PrizeAnna's Syndrome (short story)
Rebecca Kantor2012Creative Work1st PrizeIntroducing…the Rapturous Rhonda Rhodes!
Allegra Tepper2012Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionMo' Women, Mo' Problems: How Showtime Found its Niche Among the Broads
Isabelle Feldhaus2012Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeStopping Corporate Drivers of the Noncommunicable Disease Epidemic: Nestlé Supermarkets in Brazilian Slums
Nancy Benner2012Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeAre Chemicals Making Americans Fat? What You Should Know About the Obesogen Debate
Jasneet Aulakh2012Research EssayHonorable MentionBlood for Blood: 1984 India
Alexander Gertel2012Research EssayHonorable MentionThe Need to Make Periodic Board Recertification Mandatory for ‘Grandfathered' Specialists
Erik Peterson2012Research Essay2nd PrizeGenocide, Identity, and the State: The Role of Societal Manipulation in Conflict
Lauren Maldonado2012Research Essay1st PrizeOn Piero della Francesca's "Madonna del Parto": Contextualizing the Modest Mediator and her role in Childbirth in Fifteenth-Century Italy
Tiffany Yang2011Analytical EssayHonorable MentionOscillations of Race and Memory: The Stained Path to "A More Perfect Union"
Jason Lipshin2011Analytical Essay2nd PrizeCasual Labor: How Farmville Converges Consumption, Production, and Play
Colin Dwyer2011Analytical Essay1st PrizeWho and What Art Thou?": The Question of the Child in Peter Pan
Charles Green2011Creative WorkHonorable MentionDeath in Texas
Paige Cohen2011Creative WorkHonorable MentionWhat We Hang on the Walls
Lesley Wasserman2011Creative Work2nd PrizeCaptive in Communes of Charlatans Confined in the Company of Callow Animals
Taylor Friedman2011Creative Work2nd PrizeFrozen Cherry Custard
Sarah Boots2011Creative Work1st PrizeThe Poetry of Science
Luia Yen2011Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionAn Argument in Favor of Corporate Social Responsibility
Madison Ainley2011Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeAuthority through Relevancy: On Modernizing the United Nations Security Council Membership Structure
John (Charlie) Mach2011Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st Prizempact of Hospice Care on Healthcare Costs and Patients' Quality of Life
Gregory Woodburn2011Research EssayHonorable MentionTwain Marks of Memory: Time, Loss, and Their Intersection in Mark Twain's Two Autobiographies
David Branch2011Research EssayHonorable MentionThe Subway to the Sea
Zara Lukens2011Research Essay2nd PrizeThe Political, Social, and Institutional Causes of the Disparity between Water System Effectiveness in Uruguay and Argentina
Stephen Lamb2011Research Essay1st Prize"Wicked and Diverse Opinions": Controlling Heresy in the Henrician Reformation
Patreeya Prasertvit2010Analytical EssayHonorable MentionDeck the Halls with Boughs of Folly: Camelot's Unfortunate Victory
Hrishikesh Joshi2010Analytical Essay2nd PrizeOn Frege's Theory of Sense and Reference
Charles Furman2010Analytical Essay1st PrizeDueling With Censorship: Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series' Pastiche of Dubbing
Sarah Hawley2010Creative WorkHonorable MentionLooking Down
Melissa Rae Sipin2010Creative WorkHonorable MentionHer Eyes Round Like Coconuts (A Short Story Collection on the Immigrant Experience of Alienation and Otherness)
Timothy Clayton2010Creative Work2nd PrizeHow to Become the Brother of a Drug Addict
Andrew Ramirez2010Creative Work2nd PrizeA Man Dies Happy
Janet Thielke2010Creative Work1st PrizeHow To Save Your Son From the World
Joshua Lang2010Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionNotes from Cuba: The Importance of Primary Care
Gary Yao2010Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionCoffeehouse Urbanism: Giving a Jolt to the March Toward True Walkability
Michael Kianmahd2010Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeMichael on Business: A New Paradigm for Business Blogging
Andrea Chin2010Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeAging in Place and Fall Prevention: Home Modification Policy Recommendations
Sarah Ghulamhussain2010Research EssayHonorable MentionThe Voice of a Generation
Colin Dwyer2010Research EssayHonorable MentionIdentity, Fractured into Fundamentals: Post-Colonialism and its Application in The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Daniel Wu2010Research Essay2nd PrizeReimagining the Figueroa Corridor: Growth Politics, Policy, and Displacement
David Livingston2010Research Essay1st PrizeCarbon Statecraft: Russia's Attitude, Capacities and Future Under the Kyoto Protocol
William Sohigian2009Analytical EssayHonorable MentionLaw and Order: Special Victims Unit – An Incomplete Rape Discourse
Anthony Catalano2009Analytical Essay2nd PrizeThe Insufficiency of Tradition: The Plotinian and Irenaean Attempts to Refute the Gnostic Claims
Jason Lipshin2009Analytical Essay1st PrizeHollywood Extras: "Seeing" and "Being Seen" in Pre-Stonewall Gay and Lesbian Cinema
Andrew Ramirez2009Creative WorkHonorable MentionMoving On
Cody Marion2009Creative WorkHonorable MentionHeat
Taylor Friedman2009Creative Work2nd PrizeSpecial
Hannah HyunYoung Kim2009Creative Work1st PrizeListen
Andrew Pouw2009Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionViral Panic: The Paranoid Style in Microbiological Discourse
Kunal Bambawale2009Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeFunny but Futile: Why Racial Humor is a Joke
Nicolette Omoile2009Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeThe Intersectionality of Sasha Fierce: A Look into Beyonce Knowles, Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Regina Pritchett2009Research EssayHonorable MentionHighly Publicized: The Role of Public Space in the Generation of Social Capital
Stefanie Demetriades2009Research Essay2nd PrizeParallels and Paradoxes: Western Intervention in Middle Eastern Governance
David (Brandon) Fite2009Research Essay1st PrizeQuis Hoc Vult?: An Exploration of the Role of Pope Urban II and the Causes behind the Commencement of the First Crusade
Colin Dwyer2008Analytical Essay2nd PrizeOne More Betrayal: Storytelling as Character Development in Paradise Lost
Andrew Horning2008Analytical Essay1st PrizeThe Thin Read Line
Melissa Niiya2008Creative WorkHonorable MentionAudubon
Yulia Tsukerman2008Creative WorkHonorable MentionPoems
Tera Vale Ragan2008Creative Work2nd PrizePoems
Anthony Marra2008Creative Work2nd PrizeWhen She Looked Into the Sea (short story)
Janet Thielke2008Creative Work1st PrizeCamelot, Georgia (short story)
Naira Kuzmich2008Creative Work1st PrizeInheritance (short story)
Brian Braunlich2008Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeFor his business memo to Mr. William Clay Ford, Jr., Ford Motor Company about "Declining Ford Automotive Sales Trends"
Irene Campos2008Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeThe Inkblot: Interpreting the Diverse World of Psychology
Monica Bennett2008Research EssayHonorable MentionHome Literacy Practices: A study of the self-reported practices and literacy of children in urban Los Angeles
Jessica Kim2008Research Essay2nd PrizeBeam Me Up, Scotty: Into the World of Fan Fiction
Allison Norman2008Research Essay1st PrizeHear, my Lords: Marriage in Twelfth-Century France and Women as Teachers in the Letters of Heloise and the Lais of Marie de France
Henry Wu2007Analytical Essay1st PrizeA Ghost Story
David Slagle2007Analytical Essay2nd PrizeThe Contemporary Filmic Aura
Allison Norman2007Research Essay1st PrizeFrom Lions to Logos: Heraldry, Social Class, and Accessorizing the Middle Ages from Arthurian Romance to American Popular Culture
Jamie Kagihara2007Research Essay2nd PrizeMurses
Hrishikesh Joshi2007Research EssayHonorable MentionTacit Knowledge, Schrödinger, and the Revolution in Biology
Diana Arterian2007Creative Writing1st PrizeCollected Poem
Bryan Carberry2007Creative Writing2nd PrizeTouched by God
Suh Yung (Amy) Han2007Creative WritingHonorable MentionCollected Poems
Emily Ansara Baines2007Creative WritingHonorable MentionAdventures in Wonderland
Shahin Berenji2007Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning1st PrizeAnalysis of the Supreme Court Case American Insurance Association vs. Garamendi (2003)
Chuong Nguyen2007Professional Writing / Moral Reasoning2nd PrizeThe Cost of Self-Esteem and the American Girl
John-Paul Petrash2007Professional Writing / Moral ReasoningHonorable MentionMemorandum