The Freedom From Religion Foundation is proudly disbursing $19,150 in prize money in the 2025 essay contest for Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color students.
Entrants in the 2025 David Hudak Memorial Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color (BIPOC) Student Essay Competition were asked to write on the topic of “How white Christian nationalism endangers my rights.” They were directed to select a specific attack on civil liberties by white Christian nationalists and describe how it poses a threat and how that impacts them or others in the BIPOC community.
The three top winners and 10 honorable mentions of the contest, along with 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 sixth place in this contest — are not regarded in the typical tie fashion, where, in this instance, seventh place would be skipped.)
FIRST PLACE
Mekah’E LeClair, 20, DigiPen Institute of Technology, $3,500.
SECOND PLACE
Naveyah Boykin, 20, Lincoln University, $3,000.
THIRD PLACE
Gabrielle Williams, 20, Howard University, $2,500.
FOURTH PLACE
Henry Olango, 21, Penn State University, $2,000.
FIFTH PLACE
Jaianah Hightower, 20, Morgan State University, $1,500.
SIXTH PLACE (tie)
JoJo Huntley, 20, Temple University, $1,000.
Arianna Sukhdeo, 18, Johns Hopkins University, $1,000.
SEVENTH PLACE
Aryan Singla, 18, University of Connecticut, $750.
EIGHTH PLACE
Chris Previlon, 19, University of Central Florida, $500.
NINTH PLACE (tie)
Alayna Champ, 19, University of South Carolina, $400.
Lauren Nsele, 21, Boston University, $400.
TENTH PLACE (tie)
Gabrielle Telsaint, 18, Florida International University, $300.
Layla Vaughan, 19, University of North Carolina, $300.
HONORABLE MENTION ($200 each)
Blake Battle, 19, Georgia Southern University.
Akrit Burroughs, 18, Kennesaw State University.
Jendayi Guamerah-Oliver, 18, Xavier University.
Natalya Hagee, 18, Temple University.
Ava Heims, 19, Syracuse University.
Fiolajesurera Orelaja, 18, American University.
Bri’Kayla Person, 19, University of Central Oklahoma.
Jaydon Santiago, 18, UCLA.
Laiya Thorpe, 20, North Carolina A&T State University.
Donovan Tyler, 19, University of Virginia.
Miriam Zepeda Perez, 18, Northern Arizona University.
FFRF thanks Lisa Treu for managing the details of this and FFRF’s other essay competitions. FFRF would also like to thank our volunteer and staff readers and judges, including Dan Barker, David Chivers, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Susan Gould, Jeffrey La Vicka, Sammi Lawrence, Michael Luther, Katya Maes, David Malcolm, Jason Mosebach, Chris O’Connell, Andrea Osburne, Joanna Papich, Sue Schuetz, PJ Slinger, Kimberly Waldron and Karen Lee Weidig
This contest is named for the late David Hudak, an FFRF member who left a bequest to generously fund a student essay contest. FFRF has offered essay competitions to students of color since 2016. It has also offered essay contests open to all college students since 1979, high school students since 1994, grad students since 2010 and one for law students since 2019. FFRF’s four other essay contests for students are open to all eligible students. The Hudak competition was created to recognize and provide encouragement to a minority within a minority and also to showcase their unique freethinking perspectives and challenges.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With more than 42,000 members, FFRF advocates for freethinkers’ rights across the globe. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
