The Department of Politics recognizes exceptional undergraduate performance through a variety of prizes and awards. Information about those honors, as well as a list of recent recipients, are available below. See the honors calculation page for information regarding the determination of highest honors, high honors, and honors.
Department Prizes
Caroline M. Picard Prize in Politics
Established in 1985 by her family in memory of Caroline M. Picard, Class of 1986. It is awarded annually to the junior(s) in the Department of Politics who, in the judgment of the faculty, present the most promising senior thesis project(s) which needs summer thesis support.
Lyman H. Atwater Prize in Politics
Established by the Class of 1883 as a memorial to the Reverend Lyman H. Atwater, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Political Science, 1869-1883. It is awarded to the senior who has written the best thesis on a subject in political science.
New York Herald Prize in Politics
Established by James Gordon Bennett. It is awarded to the senior who has presented the best thesis on a subject of contemporaneous interest in the domestic or foreign policy of the United States government.
Philo Sherman Bennett Prize in Politics
Established by Philo Sherman Bennett of New Haven, Conn. It is awarded to the junior or senior who has written the best essay discussing the principles of free government.
The John G. Buchanan Prize in Politics
Established by John G. Buchanan, Class of 1909, the John G. Buchanan Prize in Politics is awarded annually to the senior who has attained, during junior and senior years, the highest standing in the Department of Politics. In the event that more than one senior has attained the highest standing, the prize will be awarded to the individual who has the highest standing in Constitutional Interpretation.
Related Prize
The Stephen Whelan ’68 Senior Thesis Prize
Awarded by The James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions for the best senior thesis on a topic relating to the study of public or constitutional law.
Recent Recipients, Department Honors
SUMMA CUM LAUDE
HIGHEST HONORS, 2024
Lauren Elise Aung
Theodore William Gross
Rishi Sethi Khanna
David Anthony Palomino
Mirabella Marie Smith
Isabel Sternberg-Schoeman
Karina Cecile Wugang
Maria Eleni Zigka Moschou
MAGNA CUM LAUDE
HIGH HONORS, 2024
Kulsoom Isra Ghias
Sarina Krishnan
Charles Mshomba
Ava Jacqueline Peters
Olivia Freeman Robinson
Joshua David Rogers
Matthew Xing Wilson
CUM LAUDE
HONORS, 2024
Alexander David de los Reyes
Austin Wayne Glover
Andrew James Johnson
Julia Alice King
Bridgette Marie Schafer
Elizabeth Toritseju Tinsley
Valerie Elkins Wales
Recent Recipients, Senior Thesis Prizes
Below is a list of recent Alumni (Politics Classes of 2016 and beyond) who were awarded departmental prizes for distinction in their senior theses. To view these prize-winning senior theses by primary field, click on the linked titles which will take you to the Mudd Library Archives for the given document.
American Politics
Isabel Sternberg-Schoeman '24
"Can Money Buy 'Justice'? A New Approach to Studying the Influence of Campaign Contributions on Judicial Decision Making" - Herald Prize, Winner
Rishi Sethi Khanna '24
"Redefining Rights: Reconstruction-Era Black Perspectives on the Fourteenth Amendment" - Bennett Prize, Winner
Madeleine Offutt Polubinski '23
"One Person, How Many Votes? Race and Representation in Ranked-Choice Elections" - Herald Prize, Winner
Kennedy Elizabeth Mattes '23
"Objection, Faulty Assumption: A Partial Identification Approach to the Causal Study of Incarceration" - Atwater Prize, Co-Winner
Alexandra Metcalf Buzzini '22
"The Lost Liberal Ethic: Love and Toleration in the Political Thought of the New England Puritans" - Atwater Prize, Co-Winner / Whelan Prize, Winner
Lehman Montgomery III '22
“Navigating Masculinity Through Race and Sexuality: American Voters’ Candidate Evaluations of Black Men” - Herald Prize, Winner
Madeleine Marie Marr '21
"A Room of One's Own: Housing Activism and Intersectional Representation" - Herald Prize, Winner
Risa Lynn Gelles-Watnick '21
"Speaking Stories to Power: An Analysis of Rhetorical Style and Identity in Jury Deliberations" - Bennett Prize, Winner
Akhil Rajasekar ‘21
"Zero Cheers for Incorporation" - Whelan Prize, Co-Winner
Nicolas Harfield Wilson ‘21
"A Neo-Scholastic Perspective on New Natural Law Theory and its Conception of the Common Good" - Whelan Prize, Co-Winner
Tabitha Lynne Belshee '20
"Doing Right by Our Children: Understanding and Redressing President Trump's 'Zero-Tolerance Policy'" - Herald Prize, Winner
Thomas Andrew Koenig '20
"Forming a More Perfect Union: Past Successes, Present Failures, and Future Opportunities" - Whelan Prize, Co-Winner
Andrew Sheldon Brazer ‘19
“The Antifederalist Irony: How the Bill of Rights Opened the Door to the Nationalization of Policy-Making via the Federal Judiciary” - Whelan Prize, Co-Winner
Miriam Shana Friedman ‘19
“The Identity of Power: An Analysis of the Internal Politics of the National Rifle Association” - Herald Prize, Co-Winner
Amanda Rose Glatt ‘19
“Breaking the Silence: A Conjoint Analysis of Sexual Harassment Scandals in American Politics” - Herald Prize, Co-Winner
Natalya Linglingay Rañeses Ritter ‘19
“Stuck in the Middle with You: The Role of Law in the Racial and Political Classification of Filipinos in America” - Sherman Bennett Prize, Winner
Layla Susan Varkey ‘19
“The Park, The Bohemia, The University: A Historical and Theoretical Analysis of Displacements of African-American Communities in Manhattan” - Atwater Prize, Co-Winner
Katherine Elizabeth Cion '18
"When Women Run: A Conjoint Analysis of Gender and Political Ambition" - Sherman Bennett Prize, Co-Winner
Alexander Reid Gottlieb '18
"Private Partisan, Public Moderate: Preference Falsification on Twitter" - Herald Prize, Co-Winner
Catherine Anne McDonough ‘18
"De-Facto Disenfranchisement? Examining the Effect of Pretrial Incarceration on Voter Turnout in Philadelphia" - Atwater Prize, Winner
Alexander Joshua Costin '17
"The Lochner Era in the Lower Courts" - Sherman Bennett Prize, Winner / Whelan Prize, Co-Winner
Owen Barrett Smitherman '17
"Executor and Aide: Appellate Mischief and the Dual Responsibility Model" - Whelan Prize, Co-Winner
Mitchell Paul Kilborn '16
“Take the Money and Run? Public Campaign Financing and Representational Inequality in the United States” - Atwater Prize, Winner
Christine Casey Smith ’16
“A God By Any Other Name: Synthesizing Nondiscrimination and Substantive Liberty of the Free Exercise Clause” - Sherman Bennett Prize, Winner
Comparative Politics
Rooya Ahmana Rahin '23
“The Power of Getting Perspective: A Study of Narrative Interventions and Point of View on Political Attitudes and Behavior Towards Refugees” -Atwater Prize, Co-Winner
Rebecca Jean Han '22
“Crouching Censors, Hidden Scenes: What Kinds of Foreign Films Are Allowed into China and Why?” - Atwater Prize, Co-Winner
Roopa Shree Venkatraman '22
“Oil or Islam?: Assessing Causes for Low Female Labor Force Participation in Benin and Nigeria” - Sherman Bennett Prize, Winner
Sophie Shiao Li '21
"The Gulag For My Neighbour?: Factors Affecting the Punitiveness of Chinese Public Opinion Towards Crime" - Atwater Prize, Winner
Chun Xi Eliot Chen '20
"'Tell China's Story Well': Media Manipulation and Trust in Xi's China" - Atwater Prize, Winner / Sherman Bennett Prize, Winner
Alexandra Markovich '17
"Why We Can't All Get Along: Interpersonal Conflict and Social Networks in Post-Euromaidan Ukraine" - Atwater Prize, Winner
International Relations
David Anthony Palomino '24
"Investing in the Future: The Logic of China's International Scholarship Aid Allocation" - Atwater Prize, Winner
Eleanor Jane Bauer '23
"Hidden in Plain Sight: Investigating Sex Trafficking and Policy Responses in the U.S. Using Publicly Available Data Sources" - Sherman Bennett Prize, Winner
James Patrick Hintson '18
"Crossing the Line: When Neighbors Fight Rebels Across Borders" - Herald Prize, Co-Winner
Tram-Anh Nguyen ’16
“Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment in Asean: Profit-Driven Capital Flows or Economic Statecraft?” - Herald Prize, Winner
Political Theory
Matthew Xing Wilson '24
"In Defense of Faithful Reasons: Challenges to Contemporary Theories of Public Justification" - Whelan Prize, Winner
Abigail Yasmine Anthony '23
"The Republic of Drunkards: The Political Pathogenesis of Addiction and Development of the Temperance Philosophy in America, From the Plymouth Colony to 1850" - Whelan Prize, Winner
Jacquelyn Olivia Thorbjornson ‘19
“Doing God’s Work: Achieving Global Financial Justice in the Era of the Multinational Bank and a Global U.S. Federal Reserve” - Atwater Prize, Co-Winner
Elly Ann Brown '18
"Politics in the Cave: Worldliness and Plurality in Plato, Augustine, and Arendt" - Whelan Prize, Co-Winner
Mikhael Gerardus Smits '18
"The Stranger Is You: A Biblical Framework for a Common Way Forward in the American Migrant Membership Debate" - Whelan Prize, Co-Winner
Colleen Grace Witt O'Gorman '17
"Lessons from Emily Doe: A Survivor-Centric Approach to Sexual Assault" - Herald Prize, Winner
Joshua Robert Zuckerman ’16
“The Most Important Director of National Conduct: Security, Interest, and Identity in the The Federalist” - Whelan Prize, Co-Winner