Announcing the 2014 Student Stowe Prize winners and upcoming public program!

It is with great excitement that we announce Madeline Sachs from Chicago, IL and Donya Nasser from Orlando, FL as the winners of the 2014 Student Stowe Prize! Both young women are using their words and writing to create positive change on important contemporary social issues.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, appalled by the injustice of slavery, wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) as a call to action. Using print media and the familiar literary form of telling a story, she shone a harsh light on the American institution of slavery. The book became an international best seller and galvanized the abolition movement before the Civil War. The Student Stowe Prize seeks to recognize those young activists who continue Stowe’s efforts to better our world by writing and creating a tangible impact on social justice issues critical to contemporary society.

Madeline Sachs is a junior at University of Chicago Laboratory High School (Chicago, IL) will be awarded the 2014 Student Stowe Prize high school award for her speech, “Juvenile Life Without Parole” presented at Beth Emet synagogue, Evanston, IL.

Donya Nasser, a junior at St. John’s University, from Orlando, Florida will be awarded the 2014 Student Stowe Prize college award for her essay "Women in Leadership for Today and Tomorrow" published on the American Association of University Women of New York website.

The community and student activists are invited to join the Stowe Center for Inspiring Action: Real Stories of Social Change, a free public program at Immanuel Congregational Church preceding the Big Tent Jubilee. The program will include an Inspiration to Action Fair with Hartford-area activists and organizations from 3:00-4:00pm, and a panel discussion from 4:00-5:30pm. The panel will feature a dialogue with Student Stowe Prize winners Madeline Sachs and Donya Nasser, JoAnn H.Price of Fairview Capital, and Patricia Russo of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University. The conversation will be moderated by WNPR's John Dankosky. RSVPs are strongly encouraged and can be made by emailing Info@StoweCenter.org or calling 860-522-9258, ext. 317.

Special thanks to our selection committee of judges including Dr. Eugene Leach, Trinity College; Renwick Griswold, University of Hartford; Elizabeth Devine, Hall High School, West Hartford, CT; Wendy Nelson Kauffman, Metropolitan Learning Center, Bloomfield, CT; and Anthony Roy, Connecticut River Academy, East Hartford, CT.