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(Washington, June 27) – Three high school students—one each from Tennessee, Arkansas and Virginia—have won scholarships of $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 respectively as national, first and second place prizes in the National Peace Essay Contest (NPEC) conducted each year by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). Callie Smith from Tennessee, Kensey Berry from Arkansas and Olga Korostelina from Virginia, the three national winners, were awarded their prizes last night at a banquet honoring all 48 state winners, of whom 44 have been in Washington, D.C. for a week of meetings and educational experiences.

Last winter, high school students from around the country submitted essays on the relationship between natural resources and conflict, from which one winner per state (as well as American students living abroad and in U.S. territories) was chosen. The state winners are all awarded $1,000 and an all-expenses paid weeklong trip to Washington, D.C., which concluded today.

During their week in Washington, NPEC winners met with Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) as a group and with other Senators and Members of Congress and their staffs individually as well as officials from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the World Bank, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and the Embassy of Indonesia. At the Institute they participated in a multi-day simulation on conflict resolution.

The awards banquet was both a social and substantive event, during which students heard from a prominent speaker in a diplomatic setting before the national winners were announced. Last night, students dined at the Dumbarton House and heard a keynote address on the challenges of making peace and increasing global security from General Anthony Zinni, former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command and former U.S. envoy to the Middle East.

"The talented, energetic students who join us in Washington each year—for 21 years now—bring us as much education and inspiration as we try to give them," said Richard H. Solomon, USIP president. "Our hope is that for each winner, the National Peace Essay Contest marks the start of a lifetime of involvement in international affairs if not careers in peacebuilding."

To read Callie Smith, Kensey Berry and Olga Korostelina’s essays, the biographies of all winners and more, please visit www.usip.org/ed/npec.