The Independent Women’s Forum is pleased to announce the twenty-five finalists for the 2009-2010 essay contest. These outstanding essays were chosen from over 700 submitted entries from around the world. The contest was open to full-time, female undergraduate students and first prize is $5,000.


The finalists’ essays have been forwarded to our prestigious panel of judges who will award the prizes among this group. Winners will be announced in the coming weeks and the winning essays will be featured on IWF’s website.


Shelle Barnes, Kaplan University


Romina Boccia, George Mason University


Tess Brewer, Florida State University


Ana Butler, Florida State University


Alana Goodman, University of Massachusetts


Elizabeth Griffith, Cedarville University


Joanna Griffith, Patrick Henry College


Yueyue Guo, Dartmouth College


Yangyang Guo, Duke University


Dafina Hulaj, George Mason University


Madeline Kane, New York University


Sophia Kang, University of Southern California


Kelly King, International Academy of Design and Technology


Marina Lauck, Florida Atlantic University


Abby Miller, Northwestern College


Paige Miller, University of Minnesota


Vasiliki Mitrakor, Northwestern University


Michele Patrusevich, MIT


Arthi Rabbane, University of Texas


Marina Resciniti, University of Scranton


Ashley Reynolds, Oklahoma State University


Caroline Strasz, University of Detroit


Anna Swartz, Hillsdale College


Renee Szostak, Indiana University


Lauren Vally, UCLA