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Student Writers Go Public: 2022 Mandell Prize Winners
June 23, 2022The Samuel P. and Ida S. Mandell Undergraduate Essay Contest recognizes students whose writing fosters informed, civil public discourse. Students who publish the Op-Eds or other writing they produce for their Writing Seminars are eligible for a prize. Other prizes are given to students who build on the research project they began in their seminars, as well as students who publish substantive research articles in one of Penn’s undergraduate journals. Final selections are based on the quality, substance, research, and logical rigor of the writing. The 2022 winners are announced below.
The Samuel P. And Ida S. Mandell Undergraduate Essay Contest
A first-place prize of $750 goes to Leo Biehl (C’25), whose article “Penn, take a stand to protect West Philadelphia residents” appeared in The Daily Pennsylvanian on December 10, 2021. Historicizing the subsidized low-income townhouses negotiated by Penn students and faculty in response to displacement of Black residents to expand Penn's campus in the 1960s-70s, Biehl calls for Penn to intervene in the impending sale of the townhouses and eviction of its longstanding tenants, from families to seniors.
“Just blocks from our campus, families are being displaced and face an uncertain and terrifying future,” said Biehl. “In my writing seminar, we learned about the cycles of gentrification in Philadelphia and the broader legacies of inequality and racism associated with the city. As a first-year student, that was illuminating—but the class didn’t stop there. We learned how to write op-eds and research briefs to channel what we learned into concrete demands and outward-facing impact. My professor pushed us to understand that writing is not just a classroom exercise, but a critical skill to advocate for marginalized communities.”
The second-place prize of $500 is awarded to MaTaeya McFadden (C’25), whose article “Connecticut schools need a more inclusive sex education curriculum” was published in The Hartford Courant, December 27, 2021. Arguing for a more comprehensive curriculum, McFadden observes the presumptive cisgendered and heterosexual audience in her high school’s sex-ed program.
“[T]his writing seminar course challenged me and elevated my writing for the better,” said McFadden. “I truly enjoyed being able to take this Op-ed assignment and choose my own path regarding what I wanted to focus on. Although some parts were nerve wracking and I doubted my skills along the way, this course truly taught me how to be confident in my work and my opinions. Thank you so much!”
Nicholas Diamond (W’25) receives an honorable mention ($250) for the op-ed “Wealth gap underscores disparities in health, healthcare,” which the Naples Daily News published on December 20, 2021. Traversing sociology, economics, and public health, Diamond argues in favor of federal grants to local governments, which he suggests are better suited to address the wealth gap at city and county levels.
“I've always loved writing,” says Diamond, “but I've stuck to the basics: creative stories, analytical essays, etc. Undertaking my first Op-Ed, I discovered entirely new means of conveying a message. Op-Eds are a dream for storytellers. It provides the ability to craft a story, layer it with methods of persuasion, and output a goal, lesson, or resolution. Down to its core, an Op-Ed is a means of personal communication between the author and the reader.”
The Samuel P. And Ida S. Mandell Prize for Distinguished Research Article in a Penn Undergraduate Publication
This prize is given to a Penn undergraduate who has published an outstanding source-based, sustained academic argument or explanation in one of Penn’s many undergraduate academic journals, annually published in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and business.
A first-place prize of $750 goes to Ahmed A. Ahmed (C’25), whose article “‘Feminism Is Not a Western Invention’: Egypt’s Anticolonial Feminist History” appeared in the Fall 2021 issue of Fenjan, Penn’s “premier journal on the Middle East” managed and edited by students and funded by the university’s Middle East Center. Taking the death of distinguished Egyptian feminist thinker Nawal El Saadawi as a starting point, Ahmed interrogates the tendency in Western media to define feminism in the Arab world against feminist traditions and attitudes in colonizing nations like the U.S., France, and England.
“The beauty of writing is that it is truly a dynamic and immersive experience,” said Ahmed. The more research I did for this piece, the more it changed shape. So much so, that the final article drastically diverged from how I first conceptualized it. I would like to extend my gratitude to my editor and to everyone on the Fenjan team.
A second-place prize of $500 goes to Phillip Batov (W’23), whose article “A Plunge Into Russia’s Arctic Policy” (pp. 26–27) appeared in the Winter/Spring 2021 issue of International Business Review (IBR). Run by students in the Wharton School, IBR focuses on economic issues outside of the American market and incorporates interviews with business leaders and distinguished Wharton faculty in addition to pieces produced by Penn students. In the piece, Batov outlines the geopolitical stakes of controlling the Arctic region and the ways that Russia has positioned itself as a key player in this developing global interest.
“Russia has always fascinated me,” says Batov. “My Russian heritage aside, the nation has produced unparalleled literature, technological advancement, and leaders that continue to shape global geopolitics. I have always wanted to investigate and document some of Russia’s lesser-known policies — IBR’s ‘Frontier’ issue provided the perfect opportunity. Researching the nation’s intentions in the Arctic region was an enlightening experience, particularly in revealing contrasting Western and Eastern priorities in regard to national development. More than anything, my research has alerted me to the presence of silent conflicts in unexpected places.”
We are also grateful to the faculty judges, who read and considered all student submissions, as well as read every long-feature research article in Penn's 16 undergraduate journals: Committee Chair Jo Ann Caplin for Research Writing Initiated or Produced in a Writing Seminar and Committee Chair Adam Mohr, Sara Byala, Aurora MacRae-Crerar, Michelle Taransky, and Fayyaz Vellani for Distinguished Research Featured in a Penn Undergraduate Publication.
Finally, a special thanks to the Mandell family for their longstanding commitment to the fostering of student writers.