2018 

Graduate

• First Place: Tamarys Bahamonde, University of Delaware, “Mercado Laboral Cubano: Distorciones y Retos”

• Second Place: Miranda Garcia, University of Michigan, “Cuban Stuff: Material Culture and the Cuban-American Imaginary”

 Undergraduate

• First Place: Roberto Felipe Veloso, Instituto de Estudios Esclesiásticos Padre Félix Varela, Cuba, “La economía de comunión como una forma de emprendimiento en Cuba”

 

2017 

Graduate

• First Place: Pablo Boorsman-Mendoza from Utrecht University (Netherlands), won for his paper on “Peripheral Ideas that Won’t Fly: EU Foreign Policy Decisions on Cuba and US Influence.”

• Second Place: There was a tie for second place in the graduate category.  These papers were presented by Julie Rausenberger of the University of Louvein (Belgium) whose paper was entitled, “Importing Modernity: Foreign Fashion and Identity-Making in Urban Cuba” and by Kate Gaffney of  New York University whose paper was entitled, “The Destruction of Havana’s Neighborhoods: When Heritage Tourism Becomes a Priority Over Habitable Housing.”

 Undergraduate

• First Place: Anthony Bencivengo from Sarah Lawrence College who presented on, “Sembrando la Sostenibilidad.”

 

2016

Graduate

• First Place: Aleida Cobas Valdes, Universidad de La Habana y Universidad del Pais Vasco, Spain, “Cuban Immigrants in the United States: What Determines their Earning Distributions?”  To view her journal article published in Applied Economics, click here.

• Second Place: Anina Jil Uhlig, Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, Geneva

 Undergraduate

• First Place: Nayara Sabrina, Department of Biology, University of Miami and Universidade do Estado do Para, Brazil, “Havana’s Wastewater Treatment Plants: Changes over Time and Estimate Replacement Cost”

• Second Place: Andrew Gillen, New York University

 

2015

Graduate

• First Prize: Paloma Checa Gismero, University of California San Diego

• Second Prize: Lisa Clarke, University of South Florida and Ramon Centeno Sheffield University (UK).

Undergraduate

• First Prize: Kara Sheppard Jones, Yale University

• Second Prize: Chloe Broadfield, University College London

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2014

Graduate

• First Prize: Roberto González, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, “Underreporting of the Infant Mortality Rates in Cuba”

• Honorable Mention: Rebecca Freeman, John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, “Gauging the Impact of Cuban Casino Dance in the US”

 

Undergraduate

• First Prize: Antonio L. Díaz, David Cabrera, and Arturo Cancino, University of Florida, “Evaluation and Design of Algal Growth, Harvest and Utilization for Various Applications in Cuban Infrastructure”

• Honorable Mention: Katrin Márquez, Amherst College, “Conscious, not Collaborators: The Ladies in White as a Case-Study on the Catholic Church’s Non-Threatening Relationship with the Cuban Regime”

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2013

Graduate

• First: Roberto Armengol University of Virginia

• Second: Jose Fuentes Florida International University

• Third: Leya Mundrake George Mason University

Undergraduate

• First: Eric Bulnes University of Florida (tie)

• First: Emily Snyder University of Florida (tie)

• Second: Jesse Friedman Tulane University

• Third: Julia Radomski University of Pittsburgh (tie)

• Third: Trent Blanchard Arizona State University  (tie)

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2012

Graduate

• First Prize: J. Horst for his paper entitled “Shantytown Revolution: Slum Clearance, Rent Control, and the Cuban State, 1933–55”

• Second Place: Y. Chen, U. Texas at Austin

• Third Place: F. Cirenza, American University.

Undergraduate

• First Prize: Alex Arias, Jhon Cores, Antonio Díaz, Miguel Morales and William Rodríguez for their joint paper entitled “Evaluation and Design of a Decentralized Alternative to Conventional Wastewater Infrastructure in Cuba”, all from University of Florida

• Second Place: N. Montague, Tulane University

• Third Place: J. Hutt, Harvard University.

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2011

Graduate

• First Prize: Max Fitzpatrick, University of New Mexico; Second Place:Alissa Bernstein, UC-Berkeley; Third Place: Hannah Champion, Queen’s University.

Undergraduate

• First Prize: John Cairncross, Queen’s University

• Second Place: Nelson Perez and Roberto Jimenez, Florida International University

• Third Place: Jose Vazquez, Georgetown University.

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2010

Graduate

• First Prize: Michael Aranda, Florida International University, “The Evolution of the Cuban Military: A Comparative Look at the FAR with the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian Model of South America.”

• Orlando Villaverde, Nova University, “A Macroeconomic Approach to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Inflow from the People’s Republic of China to Cuba.”

Undergraduate

• Natalie Kitroeff, Princeton University, “La desigualdad en Cuba. El color cuenta.”

• Maria Carla Chicuen, Harvard University, “Our men in Europe: Cuba’s Commercial and Diplomatic Relations with Spain and Great Britain, 1959-1964.”

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2009

Graduate

• Brenden Carbonell, University of Pennsylvania Law School, “Cuban Corporatism: Batista’s Three-Year Plan and a Nation Betrayed.”

• Ana Cristina Maldonado”Legal Dissent: Constitutional Proposals for “Cambio” in Cuba”

• Silvia Dreher, University of North Basel ( Switzerland), “Monetary Policy in Cuba.”

• Christian Santiago Patiño, Georgetown University, “Cuba’s Sugar Dilemma: The Prospects for a Green Future.”

• Rachel Alt, City University of New York, “Cuba’s Tourism and its Effects on the Import Sectors.”

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2008

Graduate

• First Prize: Laura García Freyre, Universidad Nacional de México, “De la Iglesia a la Plaza: Las Damas de Blanco y la lucha por el espacio público en La Habana.”

• José Carreras Timoneda, University of Arizona, “Dollar Diplomacy: Fallacies and Consequences of Foreign Investment in Cuba 1909-1924.”

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2007

Undergraduate

• Brenden M. Carbonell, Yale University, “FAR from Perfect: The Cuban Military and the Potential for Corporatism in Post-Communist Cuba.”

• Matthew Craig, University of North Carolina, “Making Sense of Dissidence and Repression in Cuba: A Game Theoretic Analysis.”

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2006

Graduate

• First Prize: Elizabeth Kath, School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland, Australia, “Cuba’s Proactive Approach to Healthcare.”
  Undergraduate
  Kelsey Vidaillet, University of Wisconsin, “Violations of freedom of the Press in Cuba: 1952–1969.”

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2005

Graduate

• First Prize: Lindsey Frank, Fordham University School of Law, “Maintaining Its Commitment: A Focus on Economic, Social and Cultural Human Rights in Cuba’s New Foreign Investment Law”
  Undergraduate
  Enrique Romero, El Colegio de México, “Demystifying a Bilateral relation: Rise and Fall of the Mexican-Cuban Political Understanding.”

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2004

Graduate

• First Prize: David Penny, Oxford University, UK, “Castro’s Cuba: Ideological Themes in Rhetoric”

• Andrea Colantonio, University of Readings, UK, “Tourism in Havana during the Special Period: Impacts, Resident’s Perceptions and Planning Issues.”

Undergraduate

• Kezia McKeague, Wake Forest University, “Institutional Continuity in Cuba: Predicting the Legacy of Communist Institutions in a Democratic Transition.”

• First Honors: Cynthia Romero, Princeton University, “The Communist Reformation: Retrospective Views of Gorbachev and the Fall of the Soviet Union.”

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2003

Graduate

• Catherine Caouette, University of Virginia, for her essay “The Politicization of Cuban Healthcare”

• First Honorary Mention: Gisela Fosado, University of Michigan, “A Women’s Journey into the World of Male Sex in Cuba.”

• Second Honorary Mention: Kristin Sorensen, Indiana University, “Post Revolutionary Cuban Cinema: A Historical Analysis.”

Undergraduate

• Sarah Kleiner, Barnard College, for her essay “Economics and Desire: Sex and Power in Cuba”

• First Honorary Mention: Robin Ghertner, Wesleyan University, “Rumba and the International Music and Tourist Industry”

• Second Honorary Mention: Eric C. Lincoln, Georgetown University, for “Observations on Direct Investment in Cuba, 1994–2003.”

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2002

• Ted Henken, Tulane University, for his essay on “A Taste of Capitalism: The Rise and Fall of Havana’s Private Restaurants Paladares)”.

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2000

Two prizes were awarded

• Charles Trumbull, Darmouth College, for his essay on “Social Contradictions in Cuba”

• Feliza Medrano, University of New Mexico, for her essay on “Ni chicha ni limonada: Depictions of the Mulatto Woman in Cuban Tobacco Art.”

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1997

• Yosem Companys, Yale University, for his essay on “Institution Building: A Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for Cuba’s Financial Sector Reform.”

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1996

• Félix Blanco Godínez, Drew University, for his essay on “The Cuban Revolution: A Socio-Economic and Political Analysis of the System.”

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1994

• Ivette Marie Barbeite, University of Miami, for her essay on “Economic Outlook for Cuba After Castro, Emphasis on the Sugar and Tourism Industries.”

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1993

• Joshua Himes, University of Pennsylvania, for his essay on “Cuban Development and the Sugar Economy.”