By Rabita Aziz (June 20, 2004)

Ten Mason students were presented cash prizes they won for their strong "Dear Editor" letters they wrote for the annual E.B. Henderson contest, at the 11^th annual Tinner Hill Festival.

Sophomore Sofia Misenheimer won the first-place prize of $1,000 for her piece "A Child’s View of Color" that she wrote in response to a Washington Post article, which also sponsored the contest along with the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation and Diener and Associates. Freshman Sara Greenberg received her second place prize of $500 at the Festival held on Saturday June 5 near the corner of South Washington Street and Tinner Hill Road. 

Participants who chose to enter the contest were told to choose articles in various news publications concerning discrimination issues. They were then told to write a one-page letter to the editor about the article of their choosing, and about the negative aspects of discrimination in all its forms. Misenheimer wrote her letter to the editor about an article which described a young boy who could not see the skin color of people, but only the colors they were wearing. For this reason, he would point to a person and ask his mother why that person was blue. This article, and Misenheimer’s letter to the editor, portrayed how absurd it is to discriminate against people based on their skin color. Greenberg wrote her letter on school integration, as explained by her title of "Integrated Schools Still a Dream 50 Years Later." This was a fitting title, seeing that the Tinner Hill Festival took place on the 50^th anniversary of the passing of Brown v. Board of Education, a revolutionary Supreme Court ruling that made integration of racially divided schools possible.

The annual Tinner Hill Festival is held to celebrate cultural aspects of ethnicities. This year’s festival featured lots of ethnic foods, and music. Many different awards were given as well. The other Mason students who won are sophomore Jennifer Jenkins, who won a third place prize of $300. Sophomores Paulina Hoang, Louise Robertson, and Emily Walden won Distinguished Writer Awards for $50 each. Two $25 Special Merit Awards went to Anna Duning and Marie-Louise Juul Jenson.