Junior Division
Category: Junior Papers
First Place: Divergent Paths: How the Japanese Exclusion Act of 1924 Transformed the Debate on U.S.-Japan Relations
School: Worthington Hooker School
Student: Manxi Han
Second Place: From Peru to Yale and back again: The Journey of the Peruvian Machu Picchu Artifacts
School: Timothy Edwards Middle School
Student: Rachel Mathew
Third Place: To Help or To Hurt: An Exploration of DDT
School: Timothy Edwards Middle School
Student: Benjamin Burrill
Category: Junior Group Documentary
Bill Brayfield Award for 1st Place Junior Group Documentary
First Place: How the White Rose Bloomed and Flourished
School: Timothy Edwards Middle School
Students: Penelope Evans and Astha Tripathy
Second Place: Berlin Divided: The Story of Short-lived Diplomacy and Ceaseless Debate
School: Irving A. Robbins Middle School
Students: Isha Shenoy and Kriti Jaladurgam
Third Place: The Tripolitan War: A Calculated Decision or a Lucky Gamble?
School: Intermediate School, Shelton
Students: Payton Severs and Stephanie Sanborn
Category: Junior Individual Documentary
First Place: Loving v. Virginia: Loving v. Hating
School: Timothy Edwards Middle School
Student: Gauri Kumbar
Second Place: The Olympic Boycott Debate of 1936: Changing the Face of Discrimination Through Diplomacy
School: Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School
Student: Kaelyn Cambi
Third Place: The Merritt Parkway: Debating its Way Through History
School: West Rocks Middle School
Student: Kayla Linder
Category: Junior Group Exhibit
First Place: Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Origins of Atomic Diplomacy
School: Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School
Students: Tessa Grethel and Sophia D’Amico
Second Place: The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Diplomatic Dilemma
School: Nathan Hale Middle School
Students: Daniel Guo, Marianne Joy Montenegro, Anna Kvashchuk, and Olivia Papadopoulos
Third Place: The Seneca Falls Convention: The Diplomatic Start to the U.S. Women’s Suffrage Movement
School: Center School, Ellington
Students: Julia Drury and Evelyn Nelson
Category: Junior Individual Exhibit
First Place: The Greensboro Sit-Ins: Many Faces of Diplomacy
School: Bedford Middle School
Student: Mulsy Mani Sundararajan
Second Place: The Debate of Radium and Diplomacy of its Evil
School: Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School
Student: Kira Rand
Third Place: Silent Spring: Rachel Carson’s Fight to Ban DDT
School: Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School
Student: Grace Osborne
Category: Junior Group Performance
First Place: Thomas Jefferson: From An Unheard Secretary of State to the President Who Won the First Barbary War, Changing the Role of Debate and Diplomacy in American Foreign Policy
School: Madina Academy
Students: Aanum Khan, Zara Fatima Khan, and Zainah Khaliq
Second Place: Debate and Diplomacy Through Dialogue: How A Cold War Spy Exchange Resulted in Success
School: Mansfield Middle School
Student: Kalyani Tihaiya and Sophie Marcus
Third Place: The Genesis of our National Bank: Debate, Diplomacy, and Direction
School: John F. Kennedy Middle School
Students: Kylie Purdue and Maya Costello
Category: Junior Individual Performance
First Place: Estelle Griswold: Debating the Past for the Future of Women’s Healthcare Rights
School: Bristow Middle School
Student: Eleanor Farquhar
Second Place: Prohibition Era in Connecticut
School: Coleytown Middle School
Student: Joey Vazquez
Category: Junior Group Website
First Place: Controversy Surrounding the Israel-Palestine Separation of 1947
School: Worthington Hooker School
Students: Maya Harpaz-Levy and Raisa Ahsan
Second Place: Surrender of the Japanese Empire
School: Bedford Middle School
Students: Alex Cahaly, Samson Viner, and John Mello
Third Place: Age Olde Debates: The First Continental Congress
School: Mansfield Middle School
Students: Zia Kashwan and Kaela Jia
Category: Junior Individual Website
First Place: “The Hull Note”: Failed Diplomacy or an Ultimatum in Disguise?
School: Talcott Mountain Academy
Student: Sia Reddy
Second Place: The Most Hated Treaty in History
School: Scotts Ridge Middle School
Student: Sebastian Utomo
Third Place: The World on Edge: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962
School: Scotts Ridge Middle School
Student: Joseph Velasco
Senior Division
Category: Senior Papers
Bruce Fraser Prize for Outstanding Senior Paper
First Place: The Armenian Genocide: The Consequences of Silence
School: Loomis Chaffee School
Student: Emily Khym
Second Place: Army Alpha: The Unintended Consequences of the Implementation of Intelligence Testing in the United States
School: Choate Rosemary Hall
Student: Jeff Kim
Third Place: The Complex Legacy of the Iran Hostage Crisis
School: Engineering – Science University Magnet School
Student: Lucina O’Brien
Category: Senior Group Documentary
First Place: Ping Pong Diplomacy: The Remarkable History of the Game That Changed the World
School: The Taft School
Students: Anishka Perera and Drew Niewinski
Second Place: Ambedkar’s Mahad Satyagraha: Protesting for Rights in a Caste Based Country
School: Ellington High School
Students: Sivasree Nagavarapu and Daris Pon Mohan Kumar
Third Place: The Debate of Hiroshima Atomic Bombing
School: Ellington High School
Students: Ava Powell, Allyson Currier, and Sydney Matz
Category: Senior Individual Documentary
First Place: Peru vs. Yale: a Fight for Repatriation
School: Greenwich Academy
Student: Grace Sullivan
Second Place: Paving the Way or Spoiling the Day? The Unintended Consequences of FDR’s Agricultural Adjustment Act
School: Norwich Free Academy
Student: Brendan Bezanson
Third Place: Ending The Troubles with Diplomatic Debate: How the Mitchell Principles paved the way towards lasting peace in Northern Ireland
School: Conard High School
Student: Claire Flynn
Category: Senior Group Exhibit
First Place: The 1968 Olympics: Controversy Surrounding Athletic Activism
School: Ellington High School
Students: Aidan Ladr, Natalie Kiessling, Damian Smith, and Olivia Tebbetts
Second Place: Cold War Debate, Diplomacy, and the Creation of the Polio Vaccine: Successes, Failures, and Consequences
School: Staples High School
Students: Tessa Tobias, Talia Varsano, and Annika Reddy
Third Place: The Debate and Diplomacy of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act regarding Native American Economic Improvement: Successes, Failures, and Consequences
School: Staples High School
Students: Isabella Rivel, Lucie Nivaud, and Kaya Law
Category: Senior Individual Exhibit
First Place: Angry Days 1939-1941: Should the U.S. Enter World War II?
School: Staples High School
Student: Dagny Dahl
Second Place: Duck Diplomacy: How Walt Disney Saved FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy
School: Norwich Free Academy
Student: Joseph Cook
Third Place: The Lowell Mill Girls: Demonstrating Diplomatic Strategy Through The First Working Women’s Union
School: E.O. Smith High School
Student: Mary Lynch
Category: Senior Group Performance
First Place: The Gold Standard’s Control Over the Working Class: William Jennings Bryan’s Crusade to End Economic Disparity in America
School: Enfield High School
Students: Sophia Carrier and Kathia Diaz
Second Place: The Congress for Cultural Freedom: The CIA’s Cloak and Paintbrush Diplomacy
School: Rockville High School and ACT Magnet School
Students: John Margelony and Clarissa Halpryn
Third Place: Breaking the Bank: Political Debate and the Bank War of 1832
School: E. O. Smith High School
Students: Sarah Levine, Julia Healey-Parera, and Lauren Levine
Category: Senior Individual Performance
First Place: Public Diplomacy in the Debate Between Capitalism and Communism
School: South Windsor High School
Student: Iniya Raja
Second Place: Otto von Bismarck: Germany’s Creator and its Killer
School: Trumbull High School
Student: Elizabeth Steeves
Third Place: The Destruction of Indigenous Cultures Through Canadian Residential Schools
School: Pine Point School
Student: Cecilia Zimbelmann
Category: Senior Group Website
First Place: Jacqueline Cochran: The Fight for Women Aviators in the Military
School: Ellington High School
Students: Nadia Zaffanella and Natalie Marshall
Second Place: Galileo: A Scientist Ahead of His Times
School: Ellington High School
Students: Anna Guerette, Samantha Norton, Shayla Regan, and Ana Lundberg
Third Place: The U.S.-Soviet Cultural Agreement of 1958: Successes, Failures, and Consequences of Soviet and American Diplomacy
School: Staples High School
Students: Elise Eisenberger, Jolie Gefen, and Tessa Cassell
Category: Senior Individual Website
First Place: Minamata’s Fight for Justice: How Japan’s Failed Debate and Response Sparked Local and Global Change
School: Staples High School
Student: Lucia Wang
Second Place: The Cuban Missile Crisis: How Debate and Diplomacy Saved the World
School: Staples High School
Student: Matthew Delman
Third Place: From Dictatorship to Democracy: The Peaceful End of the Apartheid Era
School: Staples High School
Student: Samantha Sheldon