top of page
shutterstock_1470540767_edited.jpg

Essay Contest Results

ANNUAL HISTORY ESSAY CONTEST

Our next annual history essay contest begins in January 2025.

Thank you to all of those who participated in our annual history essay contest in 2024! This year’s topics were as follows:
 

Fourth graders were asked to write about one of the following topics: 1.) Their state’s history, including the history of the Catholic Church in their state. 2.) An important person to the history of their state, or 3.) An important historical site in their state.

Fifth graders were asked to write about a historical character born before 1950 from North America who made an impact on the Church and country.

Sixth graders were asked to choose a country they would like to visit, research the country’s history, and write about two places of historical interest that they would like to visit and why.

Seventh and eighth graders were asked to choose a non-North American historical character who made their most important historical contribution between 300 A.D.–1900 A.D. and relate how that person influenced the time and place in which they lived.

High schoolers were asked to write about one of the following topics: 1) Choose an important historical event. Describe the event, the key players, its outcome, and how it changed history. 2) Discuss an artifact, whether physical or cultural. Explore its place in the culture that created it, what it can tell us about the people and events of its time, and why it matters today. 3) Select a speech or address from a historical figure. Research it and describe its place in history, its importance in its own time, what transpired before and after the address, and what themes remain relevant today.

HOW WE CHOSE THE WINNERS

In a competitive field of well-written essays, the best ones stood out for their exceptional qualities. To see what our judges thought of the winning entries, click below.

2024 WINNERS

Homeschool Divisions:

4th Grade:

Kyler Brandon, Nebraska

Topic: Ashfall Fossil Beds

Catholic School Divisions:

4th Grade:

Pio Tardiff, Idaho

School: Immaculate Conception Academy

Topic: Father Peter de Smet, Hero of the Rockies

5th Grade:

Dominic Gouge, Tennessee

Topic: A Bishop to the Native Americans

6th Grade:

Anthony Baltz, Tennessee

Topic: Pompeii and Vatican City: The Classical and Renaissance Majesty of Italy

7–8th Grade:

Chiara Valenti, Ontario, Canada

Topic: An Unquenchable Flame: St. Edmund Campion

High School:

Ellie Baker, Oklahoma

Topic: On Sphere-Making: How a 2000-Year-Old Computer is Changing Everything

5th Grade:

Basil Hardin, Kentucky

School: Immaculata Classical Academy

Topic: The Bishop of Baltimore

6th Grade:

Mila Grimmer, Illinois

School: St. Patrick Catholic School

Topic: Ukraine

7–8th Grade:

Linh Nguyen, Texas

School: St. Maria Goretti Catholic School

Topic: The Austrian Duchess of Hapsburg

High School:

Lucia Augdahl, Minnesota

School: Unity Catholic High School

Topic: The Tragic History of Japanese Christians during the Edo Perod (1603-1867)

bottom of page