The Stanford Calderwood Prize in Public Writing
The Stanford Calderwood Prize in Public Writing is awarded annually to recognize outstanding pieces written by students taking a Calderwood Seminar. Student work is nominated by instructors, then a faculty committee selects the exceptional work. Prizes are typically awarded in the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences.
Calderwood Seminar Program Director, David Lindauer, explains what makes an award winner, "Public writing involves translating complex arguments and professional jargon to a broad audience. The winners of the Calderwood Prizes all select interesting topics, address their audiences, and make their points accessible. They draw the reader in, explain why their subject is important and do so with writing that is authoritative and engaging."
2023 Calderwood Prize Winners
Sciences Prize: Anna Hedinger '23, "License to Krill", ES 399: Environmental Synthesis and Communication
Humanities Prize: Savanna Gray '23, "Finding Your Voice and Making a Home", WRIT 391: A Word After a Word After a Word is Power: Women Writing the 21st Century
Social Sciences Prize: Leah Black, "Ethan Kross' Toobox for Harnessing the Inner Voice", PSYC 343: Psychology in the Public Interest
2022 Calderwood Prize Winners
Sciences Prize: Lacey Berg '21, "Here's what you need to know about the chemtrails conspiracy", ES 399: Environmental Synthesis and Communication
Humanities Prize: Caylee Pallatto '21, "Tulips as a Tribute? Jeff Koons' Bouquet is an Inappropriate Gift for Parisians", ARTH 303: Art in Public Spaces
Social Sciences Prize: Juliana Tedeschi '21, "What Psychology says about America's Prison System", PSYC 343: Psychology in the Public Interest
2021 Calderwood Prize Winners
Sciences Prize: Yuxi Xia '20, "A Sustainable Future of Food Begins in the Petri Dish", ES 399: Environmental Synthesis and Communication
Humanities Prize: Julia Camilli '20, "Change Will Come", FREN/CPLT 359: Advocating for Other Cultures
Social Sciences Prize: Carla Adams '20, "Who/What/Why/How are We?", PSYC 343: Psychology in the Public Interest
2020 Calderwood Prize Winners
Sciences Prize: Maggie Rivers '19, "The Burden of Proof", MATH 340: Explaining Mathematics
Humanities Prize: Mia Tuccillo '20, "Roomful of Teeth: The Genesis for a New Shape and Sound", MUS 301: Music in Public
Social Sciences Prize: Michaela Rhile '19, "A Need for New Checks and Balances: Review of Tina Wu's The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age", ECON 335: Economic Journalism
2019 Calderwood Prize Winners
Humanities Prize: Sydney Hopper '19, "On the Transcendetalist Trail: New England's Literary Tourism", ENG 316: Dead Poetry Society
Social Sciences Prize: Ali Saueressig '19, Op Ed, POL1 333: Perspectives on U.S. Politics
2018 Calderwood Prize Winners
Sciences Prize: Alexandra Beem '18, "Anti-Retroviral Therapy alone won't Solve the HIV Epidemic, but BU Immunologist, Dr. Jennifer Synder-
Cappione is on the case", BISC 340: Biology in the News
Humanities Prize: Brianna Ruffin '17, "Distorted Reflections", FREN/CPLT 359: Advocating for Other Cultures
Social Sciences Prize: Grace Chow '17, "Conversation with Energy Economist, Stratford Douglas", ECON 335: Economic Journalism
2017 Calderwood Prize Winners
Sciences Prize: Hannah Schmidt '18, "Unnatural Amino Acids: An Attempt to Play God or a Breakthrough in Fighting Disease?", CHEM 306: Advances in Chemical Biology
Humanities Prize: Emma Stelter '16, "Ida: A Movie Review", FREN/CPLT 359: Advocating for Other Cultures
Social Sciences Prize: Sarah Koenig '17, "Oysters are an Ecologist's Best Friend", ES 399: Environmental Synthesis and Communication
2016 Calderwood Prize Winners
Sciences Prize: Adele Clifford '16, "The Other Half of Evolution", BISC 340: Biology in the News
Humanities Prize: Eloisa Cleveland '16, "It's Not about the Drugs: What is Missing from the Current Smart Drugs Debate", PHIL 330: Ethics for Everyone
Social Sciences Prize: Tamar Davis '16, "Which Black Films Matter?", SOC 324: Public Sociology
2015 Calderwood Prize Winners
Sciences Prize: Victoria Hills '14, "How to Make Trillions of Bacteria Shut Up, and What this Means for Medicine", BISC 340: Biology in the News
Humanities Prize: Anna Krauthamer '15, "Going Back", ENG 390: The New York Review of Books at Fifty
Social Sciences Prize: Emma van den Terrell '15, "Agnost-a-what?", AMST 355: Critiquing American Pop Culture