2016-17

CHARLOTTE HELENA THUN-HOHENSTEIN
Ms. Thun-Hohenstein's essay was titled, "Delisle de Fer, and the Mississippi: The High-Water Mark of Ancien Regime Mapmaking". 

2017-18

KEN NEFF
Mr. Neff's essay was titled, "Enlightened Cartography: Mapping Imperial Russia".

2018-19

GEOFFREY OLIVER LEWIS
Mr. Lewis' essay, "Maps as Mirrors and Methods of Colonialism in Hawai`i," investigates the use of maps in the colonization of Hawai`i. The transcription of the Hawaiian language paired with the European ideologies of land tenure and ownership were tools of which to name and claim land. By looking at maps of Hawai`i, I was able to track both colonization tools as well as the colonization process. These maps act as colonial landmarks, showing the evolution of the written Hawaiian language, the disappearance of communal land, and the early depictions of property lines and land ownership transactions between Hawaiians and Foreigners. His presentation appears in Calafia v. 2020 , no. 1 (March 2020).

2019-20

Because of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, no competition was held this year.