2025

Alicia Ernest, Poudre School District, Fort Collins, CO, for "National Day of Mourning/Contemporary and Historical Indigenous Contributions and Challenges"

Molly Marie Lesandrini, Mount Elden Middle School, Flagstaff, AZ, for "Digging Deeper: The people, stories, and legacies of Route 66 in Flagstaff"

Uku Urb, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Chicago, IL, for "The American West Through the Eyes of the Buffalo"

Angela Rea, Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High School, Montebello, CA, for "Photography through its Chemical and Historical 'Lenses'"

2024

Sean Cleary, Escuela de Guadalupe, for "What Makes a Good Apology?: Examining the Denver Anti-Chinese Race Riot" 

Grant Gottschalk, Holy Cross High School, for "'The Cause of all our Misfortunes:' Inculturation and Indoctrination between Catholic Missionaries and Indigenous Peoples"

Reilly Ben Hatch, Davis High School, for "Free Soil?: The War in the West"

Mary Margaret Schroeder, Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education & Most Holy Trinity Catholic Academy, for "Walking in Their Shoes: Understanding the Trail of Tears"

2023

Molly Dettmann, Norman Public Schools, for "Exploring the Civil Rights Movement in Oklahoma"

Emma Dudrick, University of Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education Teaching Fellows, for "How did the Missions change the lives of Indigenous people in California?"

Kathleen Miller, St. Turibius School, for "United Farm Workers: Analyzing Data to Determine the Effect of Unionizing Efforts on the Western United States Agricultural System"

2022
Liam Concannon, Notre Dame Academy, for "Protocols and Politics: The History of Income Inequality for Chinese Americans"
Matthew Todd Gragg, Capitol Hill High School, for "The Battle for Hetch Hetchy"

2021
Colleena Bibeau, Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, for "American Indian Cities and Indian Centers: World War II – Red Power era"
Collin Gortner, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School, for "Economics as a Driver of Migration to the American West: Denver City and Beyond"
Sean James, Gesu Catholic School, "Water Rights in the West: Understanding the Impact of Treaties and International Agreements on the Colorado River"
Taylor Still, St. Therese Catholic School, for "Dearfield and Diaspora: Teaching the Legacy of Black Freedom Colonies in Colorado"

2020

Katie Ward, St. John Paul II Catholic School, for "Why Have the Ojibwe People Had to Change Where They Live over Time?"

Sandra Garcia, Theodore Roosevelt Middle School

Alexander Hernandez, Cristo Rey High School, for this 11th Grade US History lesson plan

Katherine Wiedenhoft, Annunciation Catholic School, for "Identity and Perceptions: 'Native but Foreign'"

2019

Alex Barr, Connelly School of the Holy Child, for "'Alcatraz is Not an Island': American Indian Activism from Alcatraz to the National Mall"

Laura Fenerty, Holy Trinity School, for "Overshadowed and Underrepresented: Japanese-Hawaiian-Americans during World War II"

Sandra Garcia, Theodore Roosevelt Middle School, for "Dissenting Voices: Lincoln & the Mexican American War"

Noël Ingram, DaVinci Communications High School, for "Locked Up: The Hidden History of LA’s Role in the Rise of Carceral State"

2018

Joshua Dempsey, St. John the Baptist Catholic School, Milpitas, California

Jonathan Shulman, La Jolla Country Day School, La Jolla, California

Carol Warren, Gila River Community Public Schools, Sacaton, Arizona

Cherry Whipple, Austin High School, Austin, Texas

2017

Liam Concannon, Saint Martin de Porres Academy, New Haven, Connecticut, for "Nipo Strongheart and the Influence of Media"

Kelly Griffith, Guadalupe Regional Middle School, Brownsville, Texas, for "Clashing and Mingling: One City, Many Cultures"

Porsia Tunzi, La Reina High School and Middle School, Thousand Oaks, California, "Homeboy Industries: A Path to Rehabilitation in Los Angeles"

Helen M. Vassilou, Adena Elementary School, West Chester Township, Ohio, for "Analyzing the History of Immigration in America: Reflections of New Immigrants in American Schools" 

2016

Brendan Bell, Cristo Rey High School, Sacramento, California, for "California and the Western Foundation for Educational Equity in Schools: A Side-By-Side Comparison of Legal Methods and Development of Educational Rights Through Westminster v. Mendez and Brown v. Board of Education"

Ruth Ferris, Washington Elementary School, Billings, Montana, for "Looking at the Fur Trade Through Multiple Perspectives"

Shauna Hirota, Kailua Intermediate School, Kailua Hawai'i, for "Analyzing the History and Impact of Racial Identification"

Donna Moore and Dalton Savage, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, for "Reconstructing Memory: How did the Great Depression define Oklahoma?"

2015

Peter Prindiville, St. Patrick Catholic High School, Biloxi, Mississippi

2014

Heather Penrod and Diane Wilson, Reseda High School, Los Angeles, for "Global Warming and the West"

Michael Kennedy, Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School, Montebello, Los Angeles, for "Railroads: Economic and Cultural Significance Across the Continents"

Mitch Askew, Flagstaff High School, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Molly Golden, Alpine Leadership Academy at Mount Elden Middle School, Flagstaff, Arizona, for "The Bisbee Deportation of 1917: Engaging Students in a Historical Investigation and Mural Project"

2013

Edel Mooney, St. Charles Borromeo School, Sacramento, California, for "The Gold Rush and the Central Valley"

Mark Johnson, Concordia International School Shanghai, for "Anti-Chinese Sentiments in the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands"

Heather Penrod and Diane Wilson, Reseda High School, Los Angeles, "Vital Signs vs. Homelessness in the American West: Community Formation of Homeless Veterans in Greater Los Angeles in Recent U.S. History"

Daniel Thele, for "The Arizona Ethnic Studies Controversy"

2012 

Meaghan Crowley, St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy, Rockaway Beach, New York, for "Native Americans: An Integrated Elementary Lesson"

Mark Johnson, Concordia International School Shanghai, for "'His Death Avenged!:' Empowering Students as Historians to Understand the Chinese Experience in the American West"

Kevin Kimberly, Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Catholic School, Memphis, Tennessee, for "America Expands West: Development or Intrusion?"

Karie Lynch, Westlake High School, Westlake Village, California, for "Women of the 19th Century Western Prairie"

2011

Bianca Wilson Cole

Julie Haddix

Jonathan Koop

Jared McBrady

2010

Drew Clary

Matt LaMore

Mitchell Bradford

Berta Simic

2009

Taryn Lewis

Erin Thornton

Sarah Young

2008

Veronica Arce

Sarah Brynaert

Kathryn Christensen