yale essay competition 2023

Yale Young African Scholars

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Rise is a program that finds promising young people and provides them with opportunities that allow them to work together to serve others over their lifetimes. The program seeks young people ages 15 to 17 and encourages a lifetime of service and learning by providing support that may include need-based scholarships, mentorship, networking, access to career development opportunities, and the potential for additional funding as Rise Global Winners work toward solving humanity’s most pressing problems.

An initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, Rise is the anchor program of a $1 billion commitment from Eric and Wendy Schmidt to find and support global talent.

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The School Enterprise Challenge

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DSTV Eutelsat Award for African Secondary School Students

The awards take the form of a competition open to 14-19 year-old students in 42 countries. Students are invited to write an essay or design a poster depicting how innovative use of satellite technology in the fields of communication, earth observation or navigation can propel Africa into the future. Top entrants at the national level win prizes such as computers or tablets, and go forward to compete in the overall awards for the winning and runner up essay and poster prizes. 

Leonard L. Milberg ’53 High School Poetry Prize

Recognizes outstanding work by student writers in 11th grade. First prize - $500, Second prize - $250, Third prize - $100. 

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The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition is the world’s oldest schools’ international writing competition, managed by The Royal Commonwealth Society since 1883. Every year, it offers all Commonwealth youth aged 18 and under the opportunity to express their hopes for the future, opinions of the present, and thoughts on the past, through the written word.

Congratulations to the 2023 Senior Essay Prize Nominees and Winners!

Each year, 30-50 students write a senior essay in economics. This year, these essays spanned a wide array of topics across all fields of economics including consumption inequality within households, linkages between venture capital and public markets, police brutality and 911 calls, childcare needs on parent’s labor supply, and much more.

The top essays are nominated for prizes by the student’s advisor and a second reader from the department. A committee of Economics faculty members read and select the winning essays, and the prizes are awarded on commencement day during the students’ respective college ceremonies.

The prizes are as follows:

• The Charles Heber Dickerman Memorial Prize: the best departmental essay(s).
• The Ronald Meltzer/Cornelia Awdziewicz Economic Award: runner-up(s) for the Dickerman Prize.
• The Ellington Prize: the best departmental essay in the field of finance.

This year, twelve seniors were nominated for their essays: Raphael Berz, Tilden Chao, Aaron Dickstein, Noah Friedlander, Rosa Kleinman, Sarah Moon, Bruno Moscarini, Michael Ning, Ayumi Sudo, Sasha Thomas, Crystal Wang, and Justin Ye.

The Dickerman Prize for the best departmental essay goes to Bruno Moscarini (“ Skewed Uninsurable Income Risk in Incomplete Market Economies ”), supervised by Eduardo Davila, and Sarah Moon (“ Partial Identification of Individual-Level Parameters Using Aggregate Data in a Nonparametric Binary Outcome Model ”), supervised by Ed Vytlacil.

The Meltzer/Awdziewicz Prize goes to Rosa Kleinman (“ Transaction Costs and the Take-up of Social Safety Net Programs: Evidence from the Combined Application Project ”), supervised by Cormac O’Dea.

The Ellington Prize for the best essay in finance goes to Aaron Dickstein (“ The Impact of Economic Conditions on Decision-Making: Evidence from Retail Stock Trading ”), supervised by Nicholas Barberis. Aaron also received one of Yale College’s top prizes on Class Day: He was awarded the Arthur Twining Hadley Prize, which goes to the graduating senior majoring in the social sciences who ranks highest in scholarship. Read more about the Yale College prizes here .

In addition to essays, the Department of Economics awarded two additional prizes to graduating seniors majoring in economics: the Laun Prize for an outstanding course record in all courses taken at Yale College goes to Justin Ye , and the Massee Prize for an outstanding record in economics courses goes to Ran Wang .

Congratulations to all of these seniors for their exceptional accomplishments!

The essays for all the nominees and winners are posted below:

Raphael Berz

The evaluation of the Nutrition North Canada subsidy and implications in imperfectly competitive and remote communities (Advisor: Steven Berry)

Food insecurity due to the high cost of food is a serious issue facing Canada’s remote northern communities. The federal government is addressing the crises through the Nutrition North Canada (NNC), which provides indirect subsidies for northern grocery retailers. This paper examines the pass-through of the NNC subsidies to consumers and examines variations across items, communities, and market structures.

Tilden Chao

When the Dust Settles: How Cleaning Up America's Most Toxic Sites Affects Renters and Homeowners (Advisor: Robert Mendelsohn)

This paper contributes to the economics literature on housing markets, toxic pollution, and environmental justice, with a specific focus on how remediating industrial pollution affects renters. The paper explores how Superfund cleanups make property owners better off but low-income renters worse off. Chao examines actual outcomes after cleanup using a panel data set for census tracts surrounding Superfund sites from 2010 to 2021. The findings suggest that Superfund may make low-income renters temporarily worse off and some property owners durably better off.

Tilden Chao @TildenChao

Aaron Dickstein

The Impact of Economic Conditions on Decision-Making: Evidence from Retail Stock Trading (Advisor: Nicholas Barberis)

This paper investigates the relationship between economic conditions, specifically portfolio and market performance, and the strength of three behavioral biases in retail stock trading: return extrapolation, lottery stock buying, and attention-grabbing stock buying. Our findings indicate that return extrapolation and lottery stock preferences are more pronounced after high portfolio returns, while the buying of attention-grabbing stocks is more pronounced following poor returns. We consider various psychological explanations for these results, such as attention, overconfidence, social networks, and prospect theory, and argue that time-varying attention offers a natural explanation for all three findings. Our results contribute to the broader debate on whether people make more suboptimal decisions in good or poor economic states, providing evidence that the relationship between economic conditions and biases is complex and nuanced.

Noah Friedlander

Regressive As Well As Unequal? (Advisor: John Eric Humphries)

In 1978, California voters passed Proposition 13, which introduced a new formula governing property taxes that remains unusual relative to that of other states. While it has been shown that this formula introduced significant horizontal inequality, where properties with the same market value pay different effective tax rates, little is known about the presence or drivers of vertical inequality, where properties of different value pay different effective rates on average. This paper uses 93 million parcel-level observations for residential properties and employs a hedonic pricing model to comprehensively document the distributional incidence of the California property tax from 2009 to 2021. The findings suggest substantial regressive vertical inequality in the California property tax under Proposition 13.

Noah Friedlander @NoahFriedlander

Rosa Kleinman

Transaction Costs and the Take-up of Social Safety Net Programs: Evidence from the Combined Application Project (Advisor: Cormac O’Dea)

This essay studies the effect of transaction costs on the take-up and targeting of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Exploiting the staggered adoption of the Combined Application Project (CAP), a joint-filing procedure that simplifies the SNAP application for recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), this research finds that transaction costs reduce take-up and worsen the targeting of SNAP. The essay develops a model of SNAP enrollment to explore the mechanisms behind this result.

Partial Identification of Individual-Level Parameters Using Aggregate Data in a Nonparametric Binary Outcome Model (Advisor: Edward Vytlacil)

The relationship between variables at the individual level can be different from the relationship between those same variables aggregated over individuals. This problem of aggregation becomes especially relevant when the researcher wants to answer a question about individual observations, but only has access to data that has been aggregated. This paper develops a methodology to partially identify individual-level parameters from aggregated data when the individual-level outcome of interest is binary, while imposing as few restrictions on the underlying data generating process as possible.

Bruno Moscarini

Skewed Uninsurable Income Risk in Incomplete Market Economies (Advisor: Eduardo Davila)

Analysis of administrative data from the US, Germany, Sweden, and France by Guvenen et al. (2021) reveals that the distribution of idiosyncratic log earnings changes features significant negative and procyclical skewness. What effect does this negative skewness have on savings choices, wealth inequality, and the equilibrium real interest rate, and how do these effects change with procyclical skewness over the business cycle? This paper considers these questions in a Huggett (1993) endowment economy with borrowing constraints. Findings suggest that in partial equilibrium, negative skewness increases the incentive to save for high income levels, which drives up wealth inequality. In general equilibrium, negative skewness lowers the interest rate.

Michael Ning

Linkages between Venture Capital and Public Markets, and Venture Capital Cyclicality (Advisor: Song Ma)

In seeking to untangle the causes of cyclicality in VC investing, this paper investigates the relationship between VC and public markets. Using a database of all venture capital investments from 1980-2022, this paper analyzes aggregate VC behavior (total investments, number of investments, investment size) to understand how they co-move with lagged public markets indicators (valuation multiples, stock market performance, IPO numbers), segmented by characteristics about the investments (industry, stage), and the investor (experience, capital under management). Findings suggest that lagged valuation multiples and the IPO market predict investor behavior, but not industry stock market returns more broadly. Second, higher valuation multiples lead to relatively more early-stage investing, while stronger IPO markets lead to relatively more later-stage investing. Finally, more experienced and well-capitalized investors are more responsive to changing public market signals.

Michael Ning @michaelning_

Effect of childcare needs on parents labor supply: Evidence from remote schooling during the Covid-19 pandemic (Advisor: Joseph Altonji)

How do childcare needs affect parents’ labor supply? This paper exploits variation in the share of in-person schooling (as opposed to remote schooling) among elementary and secondary school students during the Covid-19 pandemic to analyze how parents of school-age children respond to changes in childcare needs caused by different school learning modes. Based on the American Community Survey and school learning modes data from the Covid- 19 School Data Hub, this paper finds that mothers (but not fathers) respond to decreases in in-person schooling by dropping out of the labor force. The analysis in this paper sheds light on a salient causal mechanism behind changes in parents’ labor supply during the pandemic and has important implications for childcare and schooling policies in relation to the labor supply of parents.

Sasha Thomas

Consumption Inequality Within Households: An Analysis on Budget Allocations and Resource Shares in the UK

This thesis attempts to analyze whether intrahousehold consumption inequality exists in UK households. The paper manipulates household-level Engel curves to understand spousal resource shares and budget allocations using novel individual expenditure data from 2001-2017.

Crystal Wang

Police Brutality and 911 Calls (Advisor: Zachary Bleemer)

High-profile cases of police brutality have significant effects on public perceptions of police, but their impact on residents’ demand for policing services is less clear. This paper uses a novel metric to measure residents’ willingness to call police: the ratio of resident-initiated 911 calls to automatic alarm alerts. By using a differences-in-discontinuities approach on calls for service data from 13 US cities, the study finds a significant reduction in calls after George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, particularly for low-level nuisance calls. These results empirically demonstrate the cost-benefit tradeoffs that individuals make when calling the police and contribute to the growing literature on the negative impacts of police brutality on civilian trust.

Trust, Insurance, and Demand in Peer-to-Peer Platforms: Evidence From the Short-Term Rental Market

This paper examines how platform-wide buyer protection insurance affects the role of trust-building mechanisms in online, peer-to-peer markets. Using listing-level micro-data on Airbnb and Vrbo listings in New York City in the year 2022, this paper exploits the introduction of AirCover (a comprehensive booking protection policy) on Airbnb in May of 2022 to assess how platform-wide insurance may directly drive guest booking decisions as well as modulate the role of other trust-building mechanisms.

Justin Ye @thejustinye

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Essay topics.

All first-year applicants will complete a few Yale-specific short answer questions. These required questions are slightly different based on the application platform an applicant chooses. The 2024-2025 Yale-specific questions for the Coalition Application, Common Application, and QuestBridge Application are detailed below.

Short Answer Questions

Applicants submitting the Coalition Application , Common Application , or QuestBridge Application  will respond to the following short answer questions:

• Students at Yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. Many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Please indicate up to three from the  list provided.
• Tell us about a topic or idea that excites you and is related to one or more academic areas you selected above. Why are you drawn to it? (200 words or fewer)
• What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)

Applicants applying with the QuestBridge Application will complete the questions above via the Yale QuestBridge Questionnaire, available on the Yale Admissions Status Portal after an application has been received.

Applicants submitting the Coalition Application or Common Application  will also respond to the following short answer questions, in no more than 200 characters (approximately 35 words):

• What inspires you?
• If you could teach any college course, write a book, or create an original piece of art of any kind, what would it be?
• Other than a family member, who is someone who has had a significant influence on you? What has been the impact of their influence? 
• What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application?

Applicants submitting the Coalition Application or Common Application will respond to one of the following prompts in 400 words or fewer. 

1. Reflect on a time you discussed an issue important to you with someone holding an opposing view. Why did you find the experience meaningful?

2. Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.

3. Reflect on an element of your personal experience that you feel will enrich your college. How has it shaped you?

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Career and Professional Development

Announcing the Seventh Annual Yale Law Journal Student Essay Competition

The  Yale Law Journal  is excited to announce its seventh annual Student Essay Competition. The  Journal ’s Student Essay Competition challenges the next generation of legal scholars and practitioners to reflect on emerging legal problems. The Competition is open to current law students and recent law-school graduates nationwide. Up to three winners will be awarded a $300 cash prize. Winning submissions will be published in the  Yale Law Journal Forum , the  Journal ’s online component. All  Forum  Essays are fully searchable and available on LexisNexis, Westlaw, and our website. Last year’s winning Essays can be viewed on our website.

Competition Topic: Emerging Issues in Law and the Family

This year, we invite submissions focusing on novel developments in the law as a result of shifting social norms, public policy, and legal developments concerning the family, broadly understood. We encourage submissions on a range of topics, including family law; children and the Constitution; immigration law’s effect on families; parental rights in education; sexual orientation and gender identity; abortion, childbirth and family planning; elder law; domestic violence, and policy proposals that bear on the family. We welcome topics in related areas as well, and we hope to receive both clinical and academic submissions.

Eligibility and Submission Details

The competition is open to all current law students and recent law school graduates (JDs and LLMs from the Classes of 2019-2026) from any ABA-accredited law school. Each individual may submit only one piece. Submissions must be previously unpublished Essays and may not be submitted to other publications during the competition period.

The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2023 at 5pm ET. Submissions must be no shorter than 4,000 words and no longer than 8,000 words, including footnotes.

To review more details and eligibility requirements, please visit the Journal’s website .

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Yale Library invites students to submit senior essays for three annual prizes

Yale Library has opened its application process for its three senior essay prizes, awarded annually: The Diane Kaplan Memorial Senior Essay Prize, the Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award, and the Library Map Prize.

Each prize winner receives a $500 award, and the winning essays are published on Eli Scholar, the library’s open-access publishing platform for Yale researchers. Any senior essay submitted to a Yale academic department during the 2023–24 academic year is eligible for consideration. Applications are due in early May.

• The Diane Kaplan Memorial Senior Essay Prize is awarded for an essay based on research in any of Yale Library’s special collections. These include the Beinecke Library (including Manuscripts and Archives), Arts Library Special Collections, Divinity Library Special Collections, Lewis Walpole Library, Medical Historical Library, Music Library Special Collections, and the Yale Film Archive. Faculty and others may encourage students to apply, but students must submit the essays themselves.  Review the Kaplan Prize submission guidelines  and submit the essay by Monday, May 1 .  
• The Harvey M.   Applebaum ’59 Award  is awarded to a senior essay that relies on materials from any of the government depository collections. These collections encompass government documents and information for Canada, the European Union, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the United Nations, and the United States. Essays may be submitted by the student author or a faculty advisor.  Review the Applebaum Award submission guidelines  and submit the essay by Wednesday, May 10 .  
• The   Library Map Prize is awarded for the best use of maps in a senior essay or its equivalent. Essays may be submitted by the student author or a faculty advisor.  Review the Map Prize submission guidelines  and submit the essay by Wednesday, May 10 .

The Yale Library senior essay prizes are presented during Commencement ceremonies at the residential colleges. 

Read more about last year’s winners of the Kaplan Prize , the Applebaum Award , and the  Map Prize .

—Deborah Cannarella

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Yale Young Global Scholars

INSPIRED MINDS, GLOBAL CONNECTIONS.

Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) is an academic enrichment program for outstanding high school students from around the world. Each summer, students from over 150 countries (including all 50 U.S. states) participate in one interdisciplinary, two-week session at Yale’s historic campus. Immerse yourself in a global learning community at Yale University.

THE YYGS APPLICATION WILL OPEN SOON.

YYGS is excited to offer residential sessions for June, July, & August 2025. We are not offering online sessions at this time.

Sign up for our mailing list to be notified once our application opens for YYGS 2025.

SUMMER 2025 OFFERINGS:

Session i residential (june 22-july 4).

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Session II Residential (July 6 - July 18)

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Session III Residential (July 20 - Aug 1)

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Essay Contest

Since 2013, the Buckley Institute has held an annual essay contest inviting Yale undergraduates and high school students from across the country to comment on a question of major political significance. The top three essayists in both the high school and Yale undergraduate contests are awarded $1,000, $500, or $250, and are invited to receive their award at the Buckley Institute’s annual conference.

Past Topics

• Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom
• James Burnham’s Suicide of the West
• What is the Greatest Threat to Free Speech?

Current Essay Contest

The Buckley Institute is currently accepting submissions for its 2024 essay contest focusing on free speech and the Woodward Report , the seminal document underlining the importance of free speech in general and on college campuses in particular.

This year, the Buckley Institute is pleased to announce that there will be 3 separate contests; an American high school student contest, a Yale undergraduate contest, and a national undergraduate contest. The first, second, and third place winners will be awarded $1,000, $500, and $250 respectively, and are invited to the Buckley Institute’s annual conference in New Haven on November 8, 2024, to accept their prize.

Submissions are due by 11:59pm PST on Sunday, October 6, 2024.

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Submission Guidelines

Please read our submission guidelines carefully before submitting..

YRIS seeks interesting, diverse, and compelling scholarship on international questions broadly understood: the relations between countries, trends or challenges of transnational or global scope, and the interaction of people and ideas from different countries.

YRIS accepts submissions from undergraduates on any topic or discipline that has broad relevance to international affairs. The top three print submissions will be published in our print issue, and a certain percentage of all submissions will be published on our website.

Our singular exception is for the annual YRIS high school essay contest, which is run every spring with submissions typically due by early summer. We are currently accepting submissions for the 2024 high school essay contest! Access the prompt and submission form through  this link .

Print Submissions

For print submissions , we accept papers  between 2,000 and 10,000 words  (roughly 8 to 40 pages double-spaced). For longer pieces, we can suggest portions to excerpt. Pieces submitted until February 21, 2024 will be considered for our Winter Issue. Pieces submitted between February 21, 2024 and March 20, 2024 will be considered for our Spring Issue. Pieces submitted after March 20, 2024 by Yale authors will be considered for our Acheson Issue; otherwise, they will be considered for our fall Global Issue. Access the submissions form here!

Who can submit?  Any undergraduate student from across the world!

Online Submissions

For online submissions , we accept comments and analysis pieces between 500 and 2,000 words  (roughly 2 to 8 pages double-spaced) pertaining to current events in international affairs. These pieces can be analytical, research-based, opinion, or based on personal experience. We also accept reviews of books or other media relevant to international affairs. We accept pieces on a rolling basis. Top entries will be selected and published on this website. Access the submissions form here!

Who can submit?  Any undergraduate student from across the world!

Guidelines and FAQs:

Graduate students, high school students, and individuals not currently enrolled in an undergraduate institution are  not eligible to submit.

• Acceptable file formats are .doc, .docx , although .docx is preferred
• Our journal uses the Chicago manual of style , but we do not require that pieces are Chicago formatted upon submission.
• There are no required topics for each issue , though we do seek to have a variety of subjects and regions represented in each issue.
• We only accept undergraduate pieces, and we refer graduate students and others above the undergraduate level to the Yale Journal of International Affairs at yalejournal.org .
• Due to a high volume of submissions, one author may only submit one paper per issue. Pieces can be submitted even when we are not officially soliciting, and we will add them to the pool for our upcoming issue.  We will only be able to notify you if your piece was selected.
• Submitted articles must be previously unpublished work by the listed author(s). We will not publish an article that has already been accepted at other journals.
• YRIS takes plagiarism very seriously. Submissions must represent the original work of the listed authors, and information that authors use in their article must be attributed to original sources. Submissions with multiple authors are permitted.
• YRIS reserves the right to retract any published article if our staff finds that the article does not adhere to submission guidelines.

Our print issues are circulated across the Yale campus (dining halls, academic buildings, and more) and are also disseminated to other college campuses.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to [email protected] .

Issue-specific Information

Global Issue

Official solicitation for our Global Issue takes place between October and November. Only submissions from undergraduate students at universities outside of the United States will be considered for publication in the global issue.

Winter Issue

Official solicitation for our Winter Issue takes place between December and February. Submissions from undergraduate students from anywhere in the world will be considered for publication in the Winter Issue.

Spring Issue

Official solicitation for our Spring Issue takes place between January and March. Submissions from undergraduate students from anywhere in the world will be considered for publication in the Spring Issue.

Acheson Prize Issue

Official solicitation for our Acheson Prize Issue takes place between March and June. The Acheson Prize Issue is open to submissions from Yale undergraduates only.

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2023-2024 Williams Prize Award Winners

Jaehyun Kim, Lucas Miner, and Isabelle Qian

Jaehyun Kim (Morse College), Lucas Miner (Silliman College), and Isabelle Qian (Pierson College) were the winners of the 2024 Williams Prize in East Asian Studies. The Council on East Asian Studies had a chance to catch up with them at the start of the summer and they kindly answered a few of our questions about their essays.

Jaehyun Kim

To begin, could you please provide an abstract or brief summary of your essay entitled “ Korean Newspapers and the ‘Irish Problem’: Japanese Censorship in Colonial Korea, 1920-1930 ”?

The colonial Korean press (1920-1940) has been both praised for acting as a voice of the oppressed and criticized for its association and acquiescence to Japanese authorities. Building on recent scholarship on Japanese colonial press censorship and the early Korean press, my essay examines to what extent nationalist journalism was possible in two major Korean newspapers (the Tonga Ilbo and Chosŏn Ilbo ) using reports on the Irish Independence War as a case study. During the 1920s, these two papers published frequently on the Irish Independence War and their reports were directly anti-colonial and established solidarity with them. The fact that these newspapers could publish so many Irish independence articles during a time of strict Japanese censorship indicates there were numerous logistical challenges to censorship, as well as a journalist community and readership deeply interested in and dedicated to the global self-determination movement despite Japanese efforts to co-opt Korean intellectuals and cultural leaders.

How did you first get interested in your topic of research?

I became interested in early Korean journalism through my job at Yale’s Center for Preservation and Conservation, at which book acquisitions (such as donations) are processed and made available for Yale students and faculty in libraries. One of the books I came across was “A Collection of Tonga Ilbo Articles Seized under Japanese Rule.” I was struck by the depth and vividness with which the articles wrote about contemporary political issues, and those articles motivated me to explore Korea-Japan relations starting with a study of the colonial period. The next semester, I took Professor Shepherd’s class “Korea and the Japanese Empire.” I was particularly fascinated by the era of Cultural Rule (1920-c.1930), when Japan loosened some restrictions on Korean cultural output in an effort to better uncover the Korean nationalist movement and co-opt cultural leaders while Korean intellectuals took advantage of changing colonial policies to spread nationalist ideas to the populace. These two experiences led me to explore Korean newspapers and how they illuminate the efforts by colonial administrators and newspaper writers to outwit each other. While I was searching through Tonga Ilbo and Chosŏn Ilbo articles from 1920-1930s, I came across enough mentions of the “Irish problem” that I felt the reports on the Irish War of Independence were not only a great example of Korean newspapers’ role in keeping Korea engaged in the global anticolonial movement but also a topic that generated great interest and inspiration among Korean readers.

What would you say was the most interesting finding of your research?  Were there any surprises?

I was surprised to learn that, in the early 1920s, Japanese censorship of Korean newspapers was more chaotic and disorganized than previously assumed. When I started my research, I had assumed that any article that directly supported Ireland and endorsed key anti-colonial arguments would have been censored. Given the frequency of articles on Ireland and close colonial surveillance of the Tonga Ilbo and Chosŏn Ilbo , Japanese censors were well-aware of Korean readers’ interest in the Irish War of Independence. However, many articles were digitized without noticeable traces of censorship, leading me to wonder how so many Irish independence articles could have been published in the first place.

Secondary research on Japanese press censorship argues that, at the beginning of the Cultural Rule period, Japanese censors severely underestimated the volume of Korean newspaper publishing as well as the challenges of censoring a newspaper which published a new edition and thousands of copies at least once a day. A particularly striking passage, with which I begin my thesis, describes how Japanese censors waited anxiously for the latest edition to come out, skimmed it as quickly as they could, and, if they found objectionable content, they communicated it to the representatives of the Korea newspaper by telephone as new copies were being printed.

I was also surprised to learn about the competition between the Tonga Ilbo and Chosŏn Ilbo to become the “paper of the Korean people,” and how, within the newspaper company, there were frequent negotiations and conflict between management, journalists, and readers on where the company should be ideologically.

What was the most challenging part of your research?

Finding secondary sources that directly mentioned Ireland as a topic of interest in Korean newspapers was initially challenging. Irish articles were not discussed in comprehensive studies on Korean newspapers under Japanese rule, making it challenging to support my observations and arguments. During the winter break, I experienced a breakthrough when I came across the works of Han Sŭng-hun, Yun Tŏg-yŏng, and Tonga Ilbo journalists Yi Jin and Yu Wŏn-mo, who explained and supported my argument that Korean newspapers paid special attention to Irish independence as a current event in the 1920s. While their works did not make it to my final draft, I also found the works of Kim Hong-ch’ŏl and Pak Chi-hyang valuable sources for this fascinating topic.

What resources at Yale were the most helpful for your research?

I am indebted first and foremost to Professor Hwansoo Kim, who not only went out of his way to advise a student not in his academic department, but, throughout my senior year, generously shared his regional expertise, writing advice, and personal wisdom to make me a better student of history. Dr. Jude Yang, Yale’s Korean Studies librarian, guided me to crucial secondary sources which would have been difficult for me, a student who had recently gained proficiency in academic Korean, to find on my own. Professor Hannah Shepherd, whose class through which I found my research topic, provided me with a great foundation for understanding the Cultural Rule period of Korean and Japanese history.

While all of my primary sources were digitized and available online, I learned so much about how to search for and analyze primary sources through the Beinecke’s workshops (which I attended as part of a few history classes).

Were you able to travel to Asia during your time at Yale?  If so, where and when, and what type of program?  Did you go on a Light Fellowship?

I did not travel to Asia during my time at Yale, but I will study in Japan for the summer and academic year on the Light Fellowship after graduation.

How important would you say your language study at Yale was to your research?

Without language study, my research would not have been possible. Professor Lee-Smith and Professor Choi were instrumental in improving my Korean to the point where I could read Korean secondary and primary sources.

My interest in East Asian history, particularly Korea-Japan relations, motivated me to begin studying Japanese starting junior year. While I have a long way to go, Yale’s Japanese department has done an excellent job making language learning fun, accessible, and collaborative. I can definitely see myself continuing to learn Japanese after graduation, and my goal is to be able to read Japanese historical sources in a few years.

When you had some downtime on campus, what did you like to do for fun?  Any particular interests or hobbies related to East Asia?

I am a violinist at the Davenport Pops Orchestra, a 100+ member ensemble that performs popular songs and music from movies and video games. I also like to dance! I am part of Yale Danceworks and Peristalsis (a club that teaches dance to children at the Yale New Haven Hospital).

During my sophomore year, I worked part-time at Center for Preservation and Conservation, where I helped process over 400 books on Korean studies donated to Yale. I am also lucky to have attended cultural events hosted by Yale’s Korean and Japanese departments; I would highly recommend them!

What advice would you offer to rising seniors about how to tackle their senior theses?

Use the summer to find and read primary sources related to your topic. They do not need to be the ones that make it into your final draft, but it is important to start searching early, especially if you plan on using sources written in a non-native language.

If you are stuck in your research or writing process, talk to your advisor! Don’t try to ignore it or wait it out. Your advisor is there to give help but it is your responsibility to reach out when you need it. I had lunch a few times with Professor Kim during my senior year, and our conversations not only gave me new ideas and perspectives on my research but also were a great opportunity to get to know him personally.

Also, I want to pass along what I heard at the senior essay meeting for History majors during my junior spring: that the only difference between writing an academic work and a novel is that academic works have footnotes; you can’t make stuff up, but you still have to write a good story. You are writing about a topic that both means a lot to you personally and you believe is important for the world to know. You also have the space in a 10,000+ word essay to let your ideas, voice, and creativity shine. Don’t simply focus on getting the history right—take the time to make your writing exciting, engaging, and unique!

What will you be doing after graduation?

I have received the Light Fellowship to study in Japan for the summer and academic year. I plan to return with proficient Japanese communication skills, a better understanding of Japanese society and culture, and be prepared to research Korean-Japanese history in Japanese in addition to Korean and English.

Lucas Miner

To begin, could you please provide an abstract or brief summary of your essay entitled “ The One-and-a-Half Chinas’ Problem: Taiwan and the Origins of Peaceful Reunification, 1978–1988 ”?

My essay studies Cross-Strait relations during the pivotal decade from 1978 to 1988, during which time a series of momentous changes altered the status quo between Taiwan and the Mainland. My essay primarily focuses on one such change—the PRC’s sudden shift from a hostile policy to “peaceful reunification.” My essay explores how Taiwan responded to peaceful reunification; how proposals meant to realize peaceful reunification evolved; how the PRC and ROC maneuvered rhetorically and politically on the matter of reunification; and how a new equilibrium in Cross-Strait relations emerged as a result.

I originally became interested with the period of history—Deng’s reforms and the post-Mao transition—during a Chinese history seminar I took with Professor Denise Ho in my sophomore spring. I spent the subsequent summer in Taiwan as a Richard U. Light Fellow and became deeply fascinated with the history of the island and its contemporary geopolitical significance. I decided to marry these two interests with my thesis by looking at Cross-Strait relations under Deng Xiaoping, and my research proceeded from there.

I think the most interesting findings generally pertain to how much the PRC prioritized accomplishing reunification. At face value, the whole notion of “peaceful reunification” might seem like a disingenuous ploy, but I think my research convincingly demonstrates that both the PRC and ROC treated the prospect of reunification with an existential seriousness. I think this comes through clearest in my analysis of the PRC’s United Front, and how both sides of the Taiwan Strait engaged in intense and wide-ranging political warfare meant to advance or resist peaceful reunification. These findings are made all the more surprising by the fact that few other works on Cross-Strait relations treat peaceful reunification and this decade with anywhere near the level of rigor and depth it deserves. The implications remain pertinent for present day Cross-Strait relations, and I think I think Professor Maura Dykstra put it best in her reader report for my essay:

“The deterioration of cross-strait relations has darkened the hopes of many. . . . To read Miner’s essay on how these things once came together while they seem to be falling apart offers a lovely symmetry that encourages the reader to imagine whether the best analogy for this problem is more like spilt milk or an unfinished puzzle.”

The writing. I sifted through hundreds of pages of primary sources in Chinese that touched on a broad range of historical events, characters, and themes. This alone was challenging, but I then had to decide how to incorporate all these sources and pulled-on threads into a cohesive structure for my thesis with a cogent, unique argument. It was an enormous mental challenge, and for all the time I spent reading and researching, I spent at least double the time just thinking about how to put pen to paper.

More so than any archive collection or database, I found the people at Yale to be the most helpful resource while writing my thesis. I spent many hours discussing the structure and developing the arguments of my essay with my advisor, Professor Odd Arne Westad. Throughout the entire research process, I also constantly bounced ideas off friends writing their own theses, regardless of whether their topics related to mine. At the very least, it was a great outlet for commiseration about deadlines and procrastination, but hearing about my friends’ research often gave me fresh intellectual inspiration for my own thesis.

I travelled to Taiwan on a Light Fellowship in the summer of 2022. My experience there sparked my research interest in Taiwan and Cross-Strait relations, and I returned the following summer with funding from CEAS to undertake thesis research at the Academia Historica archives in Taipei.

Extremely important. I placed into L5 Chinese as a first-year student and have taken five Chinese language classes in total. I also spent additional time as a Light Fellow studying Chinese in Taiwan. The primary sources I accessed, especially those from the Academia Historica, required high-level Chinese reading comprehension to parse in an efficient manner. Even with the preparation I received from my language study, I still initially had trouble deciphering the highly formalized political lingo used in these primary sources.

When you had some downtime on campus, what did you like to do for fun? Any particular interests or hobbies related to East Asia?

During my senior year I have prioritized spending time with friends during my downtime, whether it be playing squash, lifting in the gym, competing in bar trivia together, or enjoying movie nights. I also frequently invite friends over to my apartment to study/chat and enjoy Alishan high mountain tea, prepared using my Chinese tea set.

Let the sources guide your thesis and be comfortable with uncertainty. Just a few fascinating primary sources can inspire your entire thesis, but it takes time to dig through mounds of documents (especially in a foreign language) so start the research process over the summer. In the meantime, do not stress if you are not entirely certain about the exact direction of your essay. It will come in due time, maybe inspired by just a single quote or paragraph you dig up during your primary source research and secondary reading.

I will be undertaking graduate studies in Beijing as a Yenching Scholar at Peking University.

Isabelle Qian

To begin, could you please provide an abstract or brief summary of your essay entitled “True Bones: Catholic Infanticide Scandals and the Act of Truth-Making in 1950s China”?

My essay investigates the Chinese government's allegations of infanticide against Catholic orphanages in the 1950s. Relying primarily on newspaper and government reports—but also on children's books, online forums, and video games—I sought to consider these allegations beyond simple judgements of true or false. Instead, I analyzed the infanticide scandals as examples of the Chinese state's attempts to “create truth” during the early years of the PRC. I closely analyzed rhetorical devices such as the theme of revelation within the infanticide depictions and the active participation of the Chinese public to illustrate how the PRC was an affective and pedagogical regime, in which the government used emotion to actively teach their new citizens the "correct" ways of looking at the world. I also traced the scandals' afterlives into the present to demonstrate the various ways that propagandistic narratives can be memorialized in both state and grassroots memory.

I was first inspired when my mother mentioned a picture book that she read as a child in China during the 1960s or 70s. Although she had forgotten the book’s title, she remembered that it was about a group of Chinese orphans who were abused by a nun in a Catholic orphanage. When we think about orphanages within the Chinese context, we often think about the wave of American adoptions that occurred in the 1990s. However, I realized that I knew very little about orphanages during the earlier years of the PRC and decided that I wanted to learn more. One of the most exciting moments in my research was when I was able to track down the original picture book that my mother had read all those years ago. That book eventually became one of the most interesting and crucial sources for my analysis.

I was most surprised and excited by the richness of the scandal’s afterlives. I originally believed that the infanticide allegations had mostly been forgotten; other than a few physical memorials and social media posts that tied the scandals to other abuses in the Catholic Church, there didn’t seem to be much about the orphanages in common memory. Then, when I had already moved on to the writing stage, I discovered a Chinese video game that was centered on infanticide in Catholic orphanages. This then led me to an urban myth about a Shanghai department store haunted by the ghosts of orphans, which ended up tracing back to the aforementioned picture book. I was fascinated by these examples of how propaganda narratives can be perpetuated even decades after their first dissemination—maintained not explicitly by the CCP, but rather by a subtler general consciousness, an example of how the reproduction of “truth” can transfer from the state to the public.

I found myself struggling with a lot of doubt about the subject and direction of my research. I pivoted multiple times throughout the process because of roadblocks in accessing sources, as well as a fear that I just didn’t have anything interesting or ambitious to say. Of course, the research itself was challenging simply because research often is challenging. For me, however, the most difficult part probably was a lack of confidence and focus that often led me down unhelpful paths, only for me to realize that I should have just chosen one angle and stuck with it.

I received the Light Fellowship the summer after my sophomore year to study Japanese in Osaka with the CET program.

It was certainly very important. I took advanced Chinese courses during my sophomore and junior year, which helped prepare me to search for and analyze my primary sources, almost all of which were in Chinese.

I enjoy going out for Chinese food, as well as watching independent Chinese films from the 1990s and 2000s. I was also an editor for the Yale Historical Review, which allowed me to develop my familiarity with historical research and provided me with a warm community of individuals who are excited by history.

That being said, I spent most of my free time with friends. Especially in my senior year, I realized how important it was to just be around all these people whom I love—not thinking about research. We will never all be in college together again. I don’t regret spending any of that time with them.

I heard a lot of advice going into the senior thesis: start reading over the summer, make use of Yale funds to conduct research, begin your writing early. This is all good advice; I wish that I had followed it. Personally, I would remind rising seniors that the senior thesis is just a project. It’s a long project, and it will likely be difficult, but it’s just a project. There are some people who are extraordinarily in love with their thesis and who are excited whenever they get to work on it. Those are lucky people, and I don’t know any of them myself. The senior thesis does not have to be the best or most important thing that you have ever written. It just needs to be a serious attempt. Take it seriously while giving yourself grace for imperfection, and I think you will have something that you are proud of at the end of the year.

I actually don’t know yet. I’m weighing a couple different options at the moment for the coming year, but ultimately, I am hoping to attend a graduate program after some time off from school.

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August 28, 2022

An Overview of the 2022-2023 Yale University Essay Prompts

In addition to the Common Application’s Personal Statement and optional Covid-19 essay, Yale University asks its applicants to the Class of 2027 to answer a series of short answers, a hallmark of the application to the Ivy League university, as well as two essay prompts. The short answers are each no more than 200 characters or 35 words or fewer. The two longer essays are 125 words or fewer and 400 words or fewer. For the 400-word essay, applicants have an option of answering one of two prompts. So what exactly are the Yale essay prompts for the Class of 2027? While they are similar to the 2021-2022 Yale essay prompts , there are indeed some subtle and not so subtle differences. Without further ado, here are this year’s Yale essay prompts:

Yale Essay Requirements at a Glance

1 x 125-word essay, 4 x 35-word or 200 character short takes, and 1 x 400-word essay (selected from one of two prompts).

What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application?No more than 200 characters (approximately 35 words or fewer)It’s ok to include something a little unusual here — even unrelated to your hook. Just make sure it remains intellectual. No baking pies. You’re not applying to culinary school. That would be a wasted opportunity.Yale carries out  its mission  “through the free exchange of ideas in an ethical, interdependent, and diverse community.” Reflect on a time when you exchanged ideas about an important issue with someone holding an opposing view. How did the experience lead you either to change your opinion or to sharpen your reasons for holding onto it?400 words or fewerTell a story here that showcases that you have an opinion about a matter, but you’re also malleable to change. Demonstrate that you can hear someone else’s view and even change your own view, realizing that you may be wrong about certain things. It will make you more likable. And don’t ever be afraid to tackle a controversial topic so long as you argue respectfully and display empathy.Reflect on a time when you have worked to enhance a community to which you feel connected. Why have these efforts been meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.400 words or fewerChoose a small topic related to your hook. Don’t sell. Don’t write how you did this, that, this, and that. Tell one small story of a contribution you made to your community. And maybe your contribution didn’t lead to enduring change. That’s ok! It will only make you more likable if you failed. No need to brag. It’s about the efforts you made to create meaningful change in an interesting area that matters most here. While serving food at homeless shelters is a wonderful act for humanity, it doesn’t showcase originality. Be an original change-maker.

What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)

The first Yale essay is a classic Why College essay . So many highly selective universities ask a version of why students wish to attend their school not because admissions officers lack creativity. Rather, it’s because they want to know that students truly wish to attend the school — and for the right reasons. After all, a school’s yield, the percentage of admitted students who choose to matriculate, matters to admissions officers. They care about Demonstrated Interest — even when they tell you they don’t measure it. If they didn’t measure Demonstrated Interest , applicants should ask themselves, why would they ask this question?

A time-tested way to measure if a student really intends to enroll is whether students include general statements that can apply to just about any highly selective university (e.g., a great liberal arts education, a picturesque campus, engaged students and professors) or specifics tailored just to that institution (and how the student is going to contribute their singular hook to the school’s programs, institutes, culture, traditions, activities, and so much more). Thinking of name-dropping a professor or rattling off a few class names? Think again. These are not genuine specifics and should thus be avoided.

Short Takes

For Yale’s short takes, it’s all about being a wordsmith. If an applicant’s answer is 25 words, the applicant hasn’t used all of the real estate available to make their case. And it’s about being pithy and showcasing intellectual curiosity at every turn.

What inspires you? (no more than 200 characters or approximately 35 words or fewer)

Each answer, including for longer essays, should be a puzzle piece. Each puzzle piece should thus complement the other puzzle pieces. If a student is an astrophysicist in one essay, they shouldn’t suddenly be writing about anthropology in another short answer or longer essay. And they shouldn’t be writing on a cliché college essay topic like sports, music, grandparents, or travel. If a student is an astrophysicist, let’s learn something about the night’s sky.

You are teaching a new Yale course. What’s it called? (no more than 200 characters or approximately 35 words or fewer)

This is an opportunity to create the class of your dreams — and make sure its name is fun. College courses, unlike high school courses that don’t get all that much more creative than “AP U.S. History,” often have enthralling names, like: “Beatniks, Hot Rods, and the Feminine Mystique: Sex and Gender in the 1950s” or “The Search for King Arthur.” But be sure not to just list the name of a course you’ve created. Use the remaining word count to explain why this course should be taught. And make sure that the selection of the course fits with your demonstrated hook, or through-line, in your application.

Yale’s residential colleges regularly host conversations with guests representing a wide range of experiences and accomplishments. What person, past or present, would you invite to speak and what would you ask them to discuss? (no more than 200 characters or approximately 35 words or fewer)

It’s important here not to choose a person so many other applicants select. Yes, that means Martin Luther King, Jr. is out. Yes, so is Abraham Lincoln. And George Washington. Dare instead to choose someone admissions officers may not know off the top of their heads but whose contributions to our world reverberate today. Think of it as a chance to teach us about this person. But don’t just introduce the person. Create a dialogue with that person on an interesting topic, one apropos for our time.

What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application? (no more than 200 characters or approximately 35 words or fewer)

Here’s an applicant’s chance to be fun and share something that’s maybe even a little lighter. But even when an applicant goes into lighter territory, it remains important to nonetheless showcase intellectual curiosity. As an example, if an applicant is writing about a hobby not showcased in their activities section, make sure it’s an intellectual one. Don’t just write about collecting historical documents. Why collect them? What’s one that’s particularly enthralling? Or maybe an applicant wrote a great essay for another school that didn’t quite fit the prompts for Yale but could be used, in short-form, for this Yale short take.

Yale Longer Essay

Applicants must respond to one of the following two prompts (400 words or fewer):, yale carries out  its mission  “through the free exchange of ideas in an ethical, interdependent, and diverse community.” reflect on a time when you exchanged ideas about an important issue with someone holding an opposing view. how did the experience lead you either to change your opinion or to sharpen your reasons for holding onto it.

An applicant can write about a variety of issues — even ones some may consider controversial — but there are three keys to acing this essay prompt: (1) the topic must be intellectual; (2) the applicant must demonstrate their conviction as, for admissions officers, it’s a window into the world of how a student will voice their opinion in classes and in conversations with peers and professors on campus; and (3) the applicant must demonstrate that they’re malleable, open to hearing the opinions of others and willing to alter their views. This third point is so often not touched upon by applicants when writing this essay and that is a missed opportunity to say the least. After all, the purpose of attending an elite university and receiving a liberal arts education with students from all over the world is not to surround oneself with like-minded peers (never use that term in a college essay!). Rather, it’s to surround oneself with people whose perspectives will surely differ from one’s own and expand one’s worldview. This is an applicant’s chance to showcase that their beliefs, while important, are not fixed for life. They’re open to change.

Reflect on a time when you have worked to enhance a community to which you feel connected. Why have these efforts been meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.

So many applicants choose to write on a hackneyed topic for this prompt — like starting a non-profit seemingly for the purpose of getting into a top college or working in a homeless shelter or tutoring underprivileged students. Try very hard to avoid writing about such topics. Community service should not be a separate checkbox for applicants. Rather, the way students should serve their communities is through their hook. If they’re a historian, maybe they’re curating their town’s history for an exhibit for their local library. If they’re an astronomer, maybe they’re leading tours at the nearby observatory. This is another key puzzle piece for applicants to showcase their hook — never in a redundant way but always in a complementary way.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Your Yale Essays

If you need help with your applications, including your Yale supplemental essays, reach out to Ivy Coach today to learn about our college counseling services. Don’t come to us after the essays are all already written as we’ll likely just want to scrap them as they are unlikely on the topics we’d want them to focus on in your storytelling. Instead, come to us before they’re written so we can brainstorm paragraph by paragraph direction and then revise these essays sentence by sentence.

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Facilitating information sharing and collaboration in order to advance teaching and learning about the REEES area

Launched in December 2020, the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Northeast Network (REEESNe) comprises institutions and individuals along the Northeast corridor and neighboring areas. REEESNe facilitates information sharing and collaboration in order to advance teaching and learning about the REEES area, with a primary focus on the undergraduate and master’s levels.

Our Interests

We have particular interests in linking institutions of different types, from established centers to colleges or universities with only one or two specialist faculty, and in expanding knowledge of and access to REEES-related career opportunities outside the academy. See our Members Page for information on membership benefits and to join for free, or sign up to receive announcements of opportunities available to anyone.

In bringing together various programs and people from across the Northeastern United States, we are working to develop and sustain an infrastructure through which institutions might collaborate to achieve, with greater ease and better success, their common goals. First among these we see the training of an expansive and diverse array of professionals who are interested in, knowledgeable about, and linguistically equipped (especially with regard to Russian language) to work in and on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.

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In 2021, REEESNe received a generous grant to launch new programs that facilitate the exchange of ideas and information through a variety of media as well as in-person and virtual events. Our plans for the coming years comprise: a regular newsletter; webinars on REEES-relevant career paths and opportunities; in-person gatherings for faculty, administrators, and staff focused on strategies to enhance enrollment in REEES courses and programs; in-person conferences and networking opportunities for undergraduate and masters-level students; and more. Visit our events page  to learn about upcoming and past events, or read about our annual cycles of programming on our  newsletter page .

We also encourage members to take advantage of the contacts made accessible through the network and this website in order to share information about such matters as: graduate opportunities within the same region, state, or city; courses available through summer programs, course-sharing, or interinstitutional enrollment; students who are seeking advice beyond their institutional resources on specific subjects or career paths; visiting scholars who are available to give talks; etc.

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WCM-Q student named finalist in WPA 2024 Medical Student Essay Competition

Manaal Siddiqui, a final-year medical student at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), has been recognized as one of the 12 finalists in the prestigious World Psychiatric Association’s (WPA) 2024 Medical Student Essay Competition.

The competition, a WPA presidential initiative supported by the United Nations Secretariat – Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aims to encourage innovative thinking among medical students and highlight the crucial role of mental health in global development.

This year, medical students from 41 countries and 93 medical schools submitted essays on the theme: “Improving Mental Health in the Global World Using the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.”

In her essay, titled “Using a Socioeconomic Lens to Conceptualize a Framework for the Integration and Application of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals in Addressing Mental Health Disparities Globally,” Siddiqui examines the impact of capitalism and systems of oppression, such as poverty and conflict, on global socioeconomic structure and mental health disparities. Additionally, Siddiqui proposes strategies for developing more adaptable and integrated systems to better serve diverse populations worldwide.  

Commenting on the achievement, Siddiqui said: “This competition provided me with the opportunity to consolidate my clinical experiences in Qatar and the US and contribute to the global conversation on mental health disparities. I believe this essay represents the best version of myself and my education at WCM-Q.” 

Siddiqui’s interest in psychiatry began during her pre-medical years at WCM-Q, where she was awarded a research grant to investigate lifestyle factors influencing suicidality. She also earned honors in her psychiatry clerkship and received a Certificate of Excellence for a research project examining college students’ attitudes and perceptions of mental health treatment. Reflecting on her passion for psychiatry, Siddiqui explained: “While medicine often focuses on scientific advancements, I have always been drawn to the humanistic aspect of how our experiences shape our contributions to the world. In my patient interactions, I am particularly fascinated by their histories, traumas, identities, and backgrounds and how these inform their medical issues. This fascination has naturally led me to the field of mental health.”

Dr. Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCM-Q, professor of psychiatry, and professor of population health sciences, said: “We are extremely proud that Manaal has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious 2024 Medical Student Essay Competition. This achievement recognizes her innovative contribution to the discourse on mental health and its connection to global development, as well as her potential as a future psychiatrist. We look forward to celebrating many more achievements with her in the future.”

To access the official WPA announcement, click HERE

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Yale nonfiction book prize rules and submission guidelines.

Books  |   Past Winners

About the Prize

The Yale Nonfiction Book Prize is a biennial international prize that recognizes artful, innovative, and intellectually probing book-length works of nonfiction. Sponsored jointly by  The Yale Review  and Yale University Press, the prize is open to any writer who has not yet published a book of nonfiction. We seek manuscripts that tackle ambitious and under-explored subjects in vivid prose that would appeal to a broad audience. We welcome submissions in a range of categories, including the following:

• Reported nonfiction
• Cultural and literary criticism for a general audience
• Book-length essays
• Essay collections with a strong throughline
• Memoirs that include research or reportage

We do not accept scholarly monographs, books intended for an academic audience or a specialized reader, or memoirs that do not take up larger cultural or political questions.

The Yale Nonfiction Book Prize includes a $15,000 advance, publication by Yale University Press within the Yale Nonfiction Prize Series, and first-serial excerpt placement in  The Yale Review.  The inaugural judge is acclaimed nonfiction writer, poet, and  Yale Review  editor Meghan O’Rourke.

Rules and Submission Guidelines

The winning manuscript will be selected by the series’ current judge: essayist, poet, and editor Meghan O’Rourke. The prize includes a payment in the amount of $15,000, publication of the manuscript by Yale University Press within the Yale Nonfiction Series, and first serialization in  The Yale Review .

1. Submissions must be original, unpublished book-length nonfiction manuscripts (no illustrations) written in the English language by a single author who has not previously published a book of nonfiction. English-language translations are not eligible unless the translation is made by the author.

2. Authors may submit only one manuscript per entry year. Manuscripts submitted in previous years may be resubmitted; however, an author may win the competition only once.

3. Manuscripts that have been previously published are ineligible. This includes self-published works.

4. Manuscripts may not be under option, commissioned, or scheduled for production or publication at the time of submission. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, so long as we are notified immediately if and when there is serious interest from other parties.

5. Eligibility for the prize, including both the prize money and publication by Yale University Press, is contingent on the writer’s agreeing to the terms of the Press’s publishing agreement which is non-negotiable.

6. An entry fee of $25.00, payable by credit card or via PayPal, is required at the time of submission. Consistent with our belief that financial hardship should not be an impediment to submission, we have a limited number of fee-free submissions available. If for any reason the fee is an impediment, please write to  [email protected]  with “Fee Waiver” in the subject line.

8. Manuscript submissions must be under 80,000 words and should be accompanied by a 500–750 word pitch and/or summary. Manuscripts must be complete or substantially completed. For example, we cannot consider a manuscript that is half-written with an outline, but we can consider a manuscript for which the writer plans to revise an introduction or conclusion or add footnotes.

9. The manuscript must include a title page and a table of contents.

10. Manuscripts must be paginated.

11. In formatting the manuscript, please make legibility your first concern. Select a standard typeface (such as Bodoni, Garamond, or Times New Roman) in at least 12-point type. Manuscripts may be double-spaced or 1.5-spaced.

12. Please enter the title of your manuscript, your name and contact information, and a brief biography where indicated in the electronic submission form.

13.  The Yale Review  and Yale University Press reserve the right to reject any manuscript for any reason.

14. Once an author is notified that their manuscript has been selected as a finalist, the author has seven days to send written notice if they intend to accept or decline the prize and the Press will issue a publishing agreement for their signature. If the author does not return a signed contract within fourteen days of the date issued, they forfeit their entry and are ineligible to receive the prize.

15.  The Yale Review  and Yale University Press reserve the judge’s right not to choose a winner for any given year of the competition and the right to determine the ineligibility of a winner, in keeping with eligibility requirements of the competition.

Submissions are currently closed and will reopen for the next competition in early 2026.

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Announcing the Sixth Annual Student Essay Competition - Submissions Extended to September 23, 2022

The Yale Law Journal is excited to announce its sixth annual Student Essay Competition. The Journal ’s Student Essay Competition challenges the next generation of legal scholars and practitioners to reflect on emerging legal problems. The Competition is open to current law students and recent law-school graduates nationwide. Up to three winners will be awarded a $300 cash prize. Winning submissions will be published in the Yale Law Journal Forum , the Journal ’s online component. All Forum Essays are fully searchable and available on LexisNexis, Westlaw, and our website. Last year’s winning Essays can be viewed on our website .

Competition Topic: Law and the Changing Environment

This year, we invite submissions focusing on novel developments in the law as a result of the changing natural environment, broadly understood. We encourage submissions on a range of topics, including climate change; energy law; environmental justice; agency environmental regulation; migration and refugees; land use; local government; infrastructure and transportation; Indigenous rights; financial regulation; animal law; and legislation and policy proposals involving the environment. We welcome topics in related areas as well, and we hope to receive both clinical and academic submissions.

Eligibility and Submission Details

The competition is open to all current law students and recent law school graduates (JDs and LLMs from the Classes of 2018-2025) from any ABA-accredited law school. Each individual may submit only one piece. Submissions must be previously unpublished Essays and may not be submitted to other publications during the competition period.

The deadline for submissions is September 23, 2022 at 5pm ET . Submissions must be no shorter than 4,000 words and no longer than 8,000 words, including footnotes.

Essays must be submitted via the Journal ’s online submissions portal . When asked to select “Submission Type,” please select “Student Essay Competition” ( do not select “Forum Essay (Students)”).

Please submit your Essay as a Word document. Your submission file should be titled “YLJ Essay Competition - [ESSAY TITLE]” and include a header with “YLJ Essay Competition” in the main text of your document. To ensure anonymized review, please do not include any identifying information, including name, class year, or institution, in your Essay’s body or metadata. Failure to anonymize your Essay may disqualify it from consideration by the Selection Committee.

A Selection Committee will consider all submissions anonymously. Winners will be announced in October 2022. Authors who submit winning Essays commit to publication in the Yale Law Journal Forum and agree to participate in our full editing process. This process involves both structural and substantive suggestions, as well as sourceciting for content and adherence to Bluebook style.

Disbursement of the cash prize to each winner is subject to any applicable tax reporting and withholding requirements.

Please direct questions about the Student Essay Competition to the Managing Editors, Alan Chen ( [email protected] ) and Angela Uribe ( [email protected] ). We look forward to reading your submissions!

Volume 133’s Emerging Scholar of the Year: Robyn Powell

Announcing the eighth annual student essay competition, announcing the ylj academic summer grants program.

Valley students share their future goals as education essay competition kicks off

PHOENIX — September marks the beginning of college savings month in Arizona. Arizona’s state treasurer Kimberly Yee is kicking it off with an essay competition asking students to write about their dream jobs.

Twenty winners from all across Arizona will get $529 for their AZ529 account.

At the Boys and Girls Club of the Valley, there are a lot of kids with big dreams.

“I want to be a volleyball coach and a teacher of either math or ELA," sixth grader Bellamar Scott-Ramos said.

“I want to be a soccer player and a lawyer. Because I’m good at arguing," Charles Strand-Flores said.

To achieve those goals, these fifth and sixth graders want to pursue a college degree.

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Treasurer Yee is telling them about the essay contest they can submit to so they can get a jump start.

“It’s a very short paragraph you need to write about what you want to be when you grow up," Yee said. "That will give you a chance to submit it and give you a chance to win $529 for your future education.”

Yee is trying to reach as many kids and parents as possible, heading across the state again to promote the contest and the savings plan.

“We have seen so much growth in this program. In just 46 months, we have seen 44,500 new families sign up for an education savings plan," Yee said.

Strand-Flores says he plans to take what he learned today and start saving.

“If you save, you have it when you need it. And when you have a lot, you can give it to other people.”

Yee adds if your child eventually decides college isn’t for them, the saved money can be spent on other types of education like vocational schools, trade programs, and workforce development.

The essay contest runs through October 6 and submissions can be made online. Learn more here.

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The SCL AI Group Junior Lawyer Article Competition 2024

The first article competition to be run by the SCL AI Group, open to trainees and other junior lawyers (including students). Submit your article on a topic concerning the intersection of artificial intelligence and law for a chance to be published in the SCL’s Computers & Law magazine and on the SCL’s website. The competition winner(s) will also be announced at the SCL AI Conference.

Article topics

Entrants should write an article on one of the three topics:

• The most transformative changes in legal practice that will arise from the use of AI in the next 10 years;
• The ability of AI to increase access to justice; and
• The liability of autonomous systems.

• £500 of training credits to spend with SCL

• Publication in the SCL’s Computers & Law magazine and on the SCL’s website

The judges may, in their discretion, in addition to declaring a winner, formally award one or more other articles the title ‘Highly Commended’.

Who can enter

• Trainee solicitors; • Solicitor apprentices; • Pupil barristers; • Students currently undertaking, or who have completed in the last 12 months, a law degree (undergraduate or post-graduate), GDL, LPC or SQE (or any equivalent legal course/training).

Length of article

The length of your article should not exceed 1,500 words (excluding any footnotes and the title).

Deadline for submission

Submissions must be entered by 5:00pm (UK time) on Friday, 6 December 2024 .

Article requirements

• Your article must be your original work and not previously published, or submitted for publication, elsewhere.
• Entrants are permitted to use AI tools, but use of AI tools must be disclosed (including the extent and nature) when submitting your entry.
• No jointly authored papers are permitted.
• You may only submit one entry.
• Your essay must be in English.

How to submit your essay

You must send your submissions as a PDF file by email to [email protected] to be received by 5:00pm (UK time) on Friday, 6 December 2024. Your covering email must set out your name, contact details, and a brief explanation of the basis on which you are entitled to enter the competition, e.g. ‘current LPC student’.

Copyright and publicity

You retain copyright ownership in your article. You agree to your work being compared against electronic sources by automatic means, and other plagiarism checks the SCL considers appropriate. If you win, you grant to the SCL the non-exclusive right to publish the article, in print and electronically, in SCL publications, and you agree not to publish your article elsewhere before 1 March 2025. You agree to make any pre-publication editorial modifications to the winning entry that are required by the editor of Computers & Law for this purpose.

If you are the winner or your article is “Highly Commended”, you grant SCL the right to publish your name, the basis for your entry into the competition and the details of your article.

How and when will the result be announced

The result of the competition will be announced in early 2025 and on the SCL’s website. The prize will be awarded only if, in the opinion of the judges, the standard of entries merits the award.

The judging panel will consist of members of the SCL’s AI Group Committee, in addition to David Chaplin, Editor of Computers & Law. The winning submission(s) will be selected from a shortlist by SCL President, Professor Richard Susskind OBE KC (Hon). All entries will be anonymised before submission to the judges. The decision of SCL as to the interpretation of these rules and the awarding of the prize (and as to whether any prize is to be awarded) is final and no correspondence or discussions regarding its decision will be entered into.

Our Most-Read Prose of 2023

Only essays comprise our most-read prose this year, but it’s a list that proves how capacious the essay is as a form, with criticism that changes the way we encounter a text, personal reflections, and reconsiderations of literary figures we thought we knew. The list includes Garth Greenwell ’s rousing defense of the indefensible in art, classics scholar Emily Greenwood ’s review of Emily Wilson’s new translation of the Iliad , and Alec Pollak ’s compassionate unearthing of Lorraine Hansberry’s fraught relationship with queerness. Collectively, they bring depth and humanity to questions as varied as where the dead go, whom we write for, and whether failure is a blessing in disguise. These essays represent some of our favorite work of the year, and we invite you to enjoy them—or enjoy them again.

—The Editors

Garth Greenwell, “ A Moral Education ” Greenwell offers a lesson in art, morality, and God in an unexpected reading of Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth.

Kamran Javadizadeh, “ Ahead of Time ” Javadizadeh picks up the threads of his sister’s diagnosis and death by returning to the poems they shared.

Becca Rothfeld, “ In the Shallows ” As intellectuals and academics write for a public readership, Rothfeld makes a case against condescension.

Percival Everett, “ Abstraction and Nonsense ” Everett reconsiders his lifelong quest to write an abstract novel.

Emily Greenwood, “ How Emily Wilson Reimagined Homer ” Greenwood, a classics scholar in her own right, considers the choices that make Emily Wilson’s translation of the Iliad a new classic.

Elleza Kelley, “ Ordinary Allurements ” Kelley traces the tenderness and rigor that structure Christina Sharpe’s reading and writing of black life in Ordinary Notes .

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, “ The Consolations of Failure ” Reviewing In Praise of Failure by Costica Bradatan and Political Disappointment by Sara Marcus, Ratner-Rosenhagen asks what it might mean for a book about failure to succeed.

Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, “ James Baldwin in Turkey ” Van der Vliet Oloomi considers James Baldwin through the lens of the decade he spent on and off in Turkey, where he—and his writing—blossomed.

Kathryn Lofton, “ Cancel Culture and Other Myths ” Lofton asks us to examine the mythology of cancel culture as we reckon with its effects on society and art.

Alec Pollak, “ Lorraine Hansberry’s Queer Archive ” Pollak delves into Lorraine Hansberry’s unknown lesbian writings, giving new breadth to our understanding of the playwright’s life offstage.

Louise Glück’s Late Style

The critic as friend, rachel cusk, you might also like, our most-read archival pieces of 2023, our most-read poems of 2023, our favorite cultural artifacts of 2023, new perspectives, enduring writing.

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Yale Child Study Center recognizes 2023 award recipients and retirees

On June 21, 2023, Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) community members came together in a hybrid format for the department’s second annual recognition and award ceremony to honor the award recipients and retirees listed below. This event began in 2022 and will continue annually going forward. YCSC community members are typically invited to submit nominations for select awards in April, and these nominations are reviewed by respective award committees. Awardees are notified in advance of the event.

Community Awards

Clinical Excellence Award: Katherine Malensek was selected to receive this new award, which is intended to spotlight an individual whose knowledge, skillset, and professionalism in day-to-day interactions with patients, families, and colleagues reflects their commitment to clinical excellence.

Jean Adnopoz Community Service Award : Karyn Bailey received this award, which recognizes a member of the YCSC community who has contributed to the goal of maintaining children with their parent(s) and/or toward services that improve the life of a child through research, model development, clinical work, or administrative support.

Psychology Faculty Mentor/Supervisor Award : Carolyn Patterson was chosen by YCSC psychology trainees to receive this award, honoring the contributions of a YCSC faculty or staff member who has demonstrated excellence in mentorship of psychology trainees.

Research Mentor Award : Amanda Dettmer received this award, which recognizes the contributions of YCSC faculty in shaping the research experiences of trainees at any level in the department.

Sally Provence Award for Excellence in Supervision : Christopher Cutter was the recipient of this award, recognizing exemplary supervision by a YCSC faculty member in any discipline.

Sam Ritvo Teacher of the Year Award : Jean Marachi was selected by YCSC child and adolescent psychiatry and integrated track trainees for this award, which honors the contributions of a YCSC faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in teaching and mentorship.

Social Work Fellowship Service Award : Angela Maupin was chosen by YCSC social work fellows as the recipient of this award, which recognizes someone who embodies social work values and has demonstrated exceptional service and/or noteworthy contributions to the YCSC community, especially as related to the Social Work Fellowship.

• Judith Eisenberg
• David Reiss
• Fred Volkmar

Separately, Stefanie Gillson was recognized as the recipient of the Melvin Lewis Medical Student Teacher of the Year Award at a resident recognition event; and Frances Javier, Jelena MacLeod, Ruwaydah Hasan, and Karen Siegel were recognized at the department’s commencement as the recipients of the John E. Schowalter Chief Resident Award.

An interdisciplinary department at Yale University School of Medicine , the YCSC is comprised of faculty and staff with multiple areas of expertise working together to improve the mental health of children and families, advance understanding of their psychological and developmental needs, and treat and prevent childhood mental illness through the integration of research, clinical practice, and professional training.

Featured in this article

• Katherine Malensek, ATR, LPC Assistant Clinical Professor of Social Work in the Child Study Center
• Karyn Bailey, LCSW Assistant Clinical Professor of Social Work
• Carolyn Turek , PhD Assistant Professor
• Amanda M. Dettmer, PhD Research Scientist in the Child Study Center; Co-Director, Developmental Science Summer Internship Program, Child Study Center: Research
• Christopher Cutter, PhD Assistant Professor in the Child Study Center; Director, Native American Mental Health Program, Child Study Center; Executive Director, Chief of Adolescent Psychology, Turnbridge Dual Diagnosis Treatment Programs, Turnbridge Adolescent Treatment Programs
• Jean Marachi, MD Asst Clin Prof Child Study Ctr; Clinical Instructor
• Angela Maupin, PhD Assistant Professor of Child Psychology
• Fred Volkmar, MD Irving B. Harris Professor Emeritus in the Child Study Center
• Stefanie Gillson, MD Postdoctoral Fellow
• Frances Javier, MD Solnit Integrated Program, Yale Child Study Center
• Jelena MacLeod, MD, MHS Solnit Integrated Program, Yale Child Study Center; Chief Resident of Digital Psychiatry, Yale Department of Psychiatry
• Ruwaydah Hasan, MD

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Essay Prizes

In Spring 2022, REEESNe first instituted its three essay competitions, for which we award the Marina Ledkovsky Prize for best short-form paper submitted by a student at either the undergraduate or the Master’s level, the Ambassador Carlos Pascual Prize for best long-form essay submitted by a Master’s student, and the James Billington Prize for best long-form essay submitted by an undergraduate student.

To submit your essay (maximum of one entry in each category for which you qualify), please follow the guidelines below and email your file to [email protected] by 11:59 pm Eastern on May 31st, 2024.

The competitions:

-  The Marina Ledkovsky Prize: For short-form writing on REEES topics of at least 1,000 words but fewer than 3,000 words (including all appendices, but NOT including bibliographical materials or footnotes/endnotes, which may be counted separately). The competition is open to both undergraduate- and Master’s-level writing, as well as to essays written for scholarly as well as public audiences.

- The Carlos Pascual Prize and the James Billington Prize: For long-form, scholarly writing on REEES topics of at least 3,000 words but fewer than 9,000 words (including all appendices, but NOT including bibliographical materials or footnotes/endnotes, which may be counted separately). These are two separate competitions for MA- and undergraduate-level writing; in each case, the essay should be aimed at an academic audience.

Student eligibility: Entrants must be current students at REEESNe member institutions OR must have been enrolled at one in the 24 months prior to the competition deadline of May 31st, 2023. Students who have graduated within the past two years and have not moved on to a higher level of education during that time (i.e. who have not enrolled in a Master’s program in the case of Associate/Bachelor’s graduates, or in a doctoral program in the case of Master’s graduates) may submit to the competitions that match their most recent studies. Students who have advanced to doctoral candidacy are not eligible for these competitions. We encourage speakers from the REEESNe Student Conference to submit their revised papers, but participation there is not a prerequisite for the competition.

Essays requirements: Each entry must be the REEES-related work (in English) of a single student author and must be submitted by that author. REEES-related work from any discipline is eligible. There is no restriction on when the essay was written, but students may not submit work currently or previously considered for another REEESNe competition. For long-form essays, students’ writing will be evaluated in the competition for which they are eligible based on their current level of study. Students may only enter one essay in each competition but may, in the same year, enter separate essays in the long-form competition for which they are eligible and in the single short-form competition.

2022-23 Prize Announcement

We are delighted to announce the 2022-23 winners and runners-up for each competition, who along with the awards received cash prizes. We are also happy to have the chance to share some information about the dedicatees for whom the prizes are named, each of whom has had a stellar career reaching beyond academia after receiving one or more degrees from an institution that is now a part of the REEESNe network.

2022-2023 Prize Winners, left to right: Nora Furlong, Diana Gor, Hilah Kohen, and Alice Volfson (photographs by Jack La Piana, Diana Gor, Gabbie Law, and Josh Hughes)

The Marina Ledkovsky Prize for best short-form essay by an undergraduate or Master’s student honors a well-loved professor of Russian language and literature. Long respected as a Turgenev scholar, Dr. Ledkovsky (1924-2014) received her PhD at Columbia University and subsequently taught there and at Barnard College, while her work within and about the Russian Orthodox Church and her editing in collaboration with Charlotte Rosenthal and Mary Zirin of the influential Dictionary of Russian Women Writers (Greenwood, 1994) put her knowledge to significant use beyond academia, demonstrating the impact that short, targeted, well-evidenced writing can have on public understandings of arts and institutions. This year’s Ledkovsky Prize went to two winners: Diana Gor, a recent graduate of Hunter College, whose essay “The Townspeople as the ‘Cultural Body’ of Totalitarianism in Evgeny Shvarts’ The Dragon” is a highly polished and convincing close reading of Shvarts’s play that balances engagement of existing scholarship with interpretation of passages from the play while taking different stagings into consideration to make an original argument about the complacency of the townspeople onstage; and Alice Volfson, a graduating senior at Connecticut College, whose thesis chapter “The Migration of Black Americans to the Soviet Union in the Interwar Period: The Communist International and the ‘Negro Question’” stands alone as both a deep dive into the historical arguments of emerging scholarship and, in the span of a few pages, as an introduction that unpacks ample and valuable content gleaned through original work in archives (with microfiche, no less!). Honorable mention goes to Hunter College’s Nicole Gonik for the essay “‘Every man must have somewhere to go’: Movement in Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.”

The Carlos Pascual Prize for best long-form essay by a Master’s student is named for the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (2000-2003) and to Mexico (2009-2011). The career that Ambassador Pascual built following his Master’s degree from Harvard, his work in several State Department positions relating to Europe and Eurasia, and the research and communications initiatives that he oversaw to authenticate the tapes of then-president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma all speak to the ambitions, vision, skills, and dedication that REEESNe seeks to help its member institutions to cultivate and reward in their Master’s students. The winner of this year’s Pascual Prize is the University of Pennsylvania’s Hilah Kohen, whose essay “From Juhuri to Gĩkũyũ: The Global Circulation of Language Choice in the Soviet Era” introduces a refreshing and compelling theory of circulation that accounts for the worldwide impact of texts that, although they do not travel as text products, nonetheless affect literary worlds outside of their immediate (linguistically constrained) circles. Focusing on Juhuri (Judeo-Tat) texts and the writer Khizgil Avshalumov, whose influence is belied by his small Juhuri-literate public, the essay asserts the importance of tracing literary circulation in the face of world lit. critics and empirically verifiable, yet factually obscuring, accounts of the imperial suppression of minor literatures. Honorable mention goes to Columbia University’s Elise Schlecht for the essay “Outliving Obsolescence: Longevity, Ideology, and Style in Soviet Mass Housing.”

The James Billington Prize for best long-form essay by an undergraduate student is dedicated to the United States’ 13th Librarian of Congress (1987-2015). A widely published historian of Russia, prior to heading the Library of Congress Dr. Billington (1929-2018) received degrees from Princeton University and the University of Oxford, taught at Princeton and Harvard University, and directed the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies. This year’s Billington Prize was shared by two students: Nora Furlong of Bard College, whose essay “The Poet Won’t Die: Authorial Death in Varlam Shalamov’s Kolyma Tales” is to be celebrated for its incisive close readings and impressive engagement with secondary scholarship; and Connecticut College’s Alice Volfson, whose thesis chapter “The Migration of Black Americans to the Soviet Union in the Interwar Period: Oliver Golden and the Agricultural Group” mobilizes a commendable amount of research in order to make an original argument about African Americans in the USSR. Honorable mention goes to Yale University’s Kathryn Yeager for the essay “Kazakh Internal Opposition to the 1928 Soviet Confiscation Campaign.”

2022-2023 Honorable Mention Recipients, left to right: Nicole Gonik, Elise Schlecht, and Kathryn Yeager (photographs by Victoria Gonik, Linnea Harwell, and Weston Kerekes)

We would like to thank Misha Appeltova, Sibelan Forrester, Cynthia Hooper, Katie Sorensen, and Irina Walsh for serving on the Essay Competition Organizational Group and as judges for the three competitions.

Announcements of awards from years past may be accessed here: