The Freedom From Religion Foundation is proud to announce the 11 top winners and seven honorable mentions of the 2024 David Hudak Memorial Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color Student Essay Competition.
FFRF has paid out a total of $18,850 in award money for the contest this year.
BIPOC students were invited to write on the topic of “How does religion hinder racial equality and civil rights?” and asked to compose an essay from the perspective of history or current struggle, religious psychology or personal experience. Students from ages 17–21, whether college-bound high school seniors or ongoing college students, were eligible to participate. FFRF began offering a competition directed at Black, Indigenous Students of Color in 2016 as special encouragement to a minority within a minority.
Winners, their ages, the colleges or universities they are attending and the award amounts are listed below. (FFRF seeks to distribute essay scholarship monies to a higher number of students, so ties — such as fourth place in this contest — are not regarded in the typical tie fashion, where, in this instance, fifth place would be skipped.)
FIRST PLACE
Rita Nyamkimah, St. Joseph’s University, $3,500.
SECOND PLACE
Katelyn Boozer, Jacksonville State University, $3,000.
THIRD PLACE
Lionel Walraven, University of Hawaii-Maui, $2,500.
FOURTH PLACE (tie)
Akil Malik, Alabama A&M University, $2,000.
FOURTH PLACE (tie)
William S. Torres, Texas A&M University, $2,000.
FIFTH PLACE
Alexander Lumala, Arizona State University, $1,500.
SIXTH PLACE
Sarah Ramos-Gonzalez, Yale University, $1,000.
SEVENTH PLACE
Naya Lewis, University of Oregon, $750.
EIGHTH PLACE
Yao Liu, Northeastern University, $500.
NINTH PLACE
Krishna Verma, Simon Fraser University, $400.
TENTH PLACE
Devin Armstrong, University of North Carolina, $300.
HONORABLE MENTION ($200 each)
Jailyn Agard, Ramapo College of New Jersey.
Zyah Bostick, University of North Carolina.
Shaun Chaney, Groucher College.
Dominique Davie, Vanderbilt University.
Georgia Davis, University of Central Arkansas.
Bianca Dishmon, Northwestern University.
Bridelle Toumani, Russell Sage College.
FFRF thanks FFRF Program Manager Lisa Treu for adroitly managing the many details of this (and FFRF’s other essay competitions).
FFRF would also like to thank our volunteer and staff readers and judges in this contest, including: Dan Barker, Darrell Barker, Patrick Duff, Kate Garmise, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Ricki Grunberg, Linda Josheff, Dan Kettner, Sammi Lawrence, Bernard Leigg, Michael Luther, Katya Maes, Don Onnen, PJ Slinger, Kimberly Waldron and Karen Lee Weidig.
This contest is named for the late David Hudak, an FFRF member who left a major bequest.
“We regard our outreach to the next generation of freethinkers through these essay competitions as one of FFRF’s most important achievements,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Given the exorbitant cost of higher education we are also pleased to know we are helping out winning students with at least a little of their financial load.”
All students who enter are offered a school-year membership in FFRF and a thank you gift of a T-shirt or book. This year, almost 100 students entered.
FFRF launched its first essay contest for college students in 1979, added one for college-bound high school seniors in 1994, grad students in 2010 and one for law students in 2019. These competitions are open to any eligible students. Winners of the 2024 high school competition will be announced soon!
