High School Students Honored as Winners in UA’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Essay Contest

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – School winners in The University of Alabama’s tenth annual “To Kill A Mockingbird” Essay Contest for high school students were recognized on campus with a luncheon and awards ceremony Friday, Feb. 4.

The essay contest began in 2001 to recognize author Harper Lee’s induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor.

Contest submissions were accepted from public, private and home-schooled high school students. Each participating school chooses a winning entry, and a monetary prize is given to each of the winners. Participants were required to write a 500-750 word essay about how the book speaks to readers in today’s society.

In his essay, this year’s statewide winner Connor Staggs of Hewitt-Trussville High School wrote:

“Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, despite being published some 50 years ago, still manages to send us a powerful message today. The novel provides a rare historical insight into American culture during a time period where senseless, unjustifiable prejudice was the status quo. It also gives us a timeless moral allegory for equality and fraternity among all people, regardless of their age, ethnicity, or gender and of overcoming such discrimination.”

As the state winner, Staggs received $500 and $500 was also awarded to his school, Hewitt-Trussville High School. A panel of judges from the UA Honors College selects the statewide student winner.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” speaks to students in this generation as powerfully as it did to students of previous generations,” said Dr. Fran Oneal, associate director of the University Honors Program and director of the International Honors Program, who also oversees the essay competition.

All students who win the essay contest at their individual high schools were invited to attend the luncheon and an awards ceremony at UA. Student essays are also archived in UA’s Hoole Special Collections Library.

Dr. Robert W. Halli, founding dean emeritus of the Honors College, was the luncheon speaker. Halli was editor of “An Alabama Songbook,” a composition of Alabamian folksongs and old English ballads, for which he was awarded the Eugene Current-Garcia  Award as Alabama’s Distinguished Literary Scholar in 2005.

The essay contest is sponsored by the UA Honors College and the Alabama State Department of Education. Further support is provided by The Alabama Center for the Book, the UA Offices of Academic Affairs, Alumni Affairs and Undergraduate Admissions, and the University Libraries.

The 2011 school winners included:

Julia Adams of Mountain Brook High School

Christian Beasley of Andalusia High School

Jacob Bensinger of Charles Henderson High School

Bethany Carter of Evangel Classical Christian School

Kathryn Clemmons of Pelham High School

Michael Boak of Locust Fork High School

Deidre Dawson of Monroe Academy

Johnus Freeman of Decatur High School

Caroline Glass of Hillcrest High School

Nidhi Goel of Virgil I. Grissom High School

Stephanie Hubbard of Thorsby High School

Erin Lowery of Gaston High School

James Mannor Jr. of Kate Duncan Smith DAR High School

Kiana McCulloh of Valley High School

Quenjetta McLaurin of R.A. Hubbard High School

Alex Myrick of Winston County High School

Trent Norris of Highland Home School

Erin O’Mary of Brilliant High School

Teena Patel of Florence High School

Julia Pischek of Robertsdale High School

Danielle Self of Brookwood High School

Jessica Simmons of Geneva High School

Connor Staggs of Hewitt-Trussville High School

Suzanna Swanson of Shelby County High School

Irum Syed of Northridge High School

Theodora Taylor of Foley High School

Diana Thompson of The Donoho School

Dylan Tomlin of Smiths Station High School

Rachel Vance of Cullman High School

Richard Whiting of W.P. Davidson High School.