The “E.B. Henderson Dear Editor Contest” honors the work of Dr. Edwin B. Henderson (1883-1977), Falls Church resident and prolific letter writer.  He wrote and had published over 3,000 letters to the editors of newspapers in the Washington area and across the nation. Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation. along with the Washington Post and Diener & Associates, C.P.A.’s, sponsor the 10-year-old contest.   This year, there were so many entries that were so well written that the judges had to add an additional night of the normally one night judging process to fairly evaluate all the entries. Judges expressed surprise after learning the majority of winning essays, which are read anonymously, were captured by George Mason students.  Tinner Hill president Edwin B. Henderson, II, lamented, “ It broke my heart that there were a number of outstanding essays that were disqualified because they either did not follow simple contest guidelines, such as submitting the entry in letter format or forgetting to sign the letter or not including the article their letter responded to.”

Five of Mason’s seven winners in the E. B. Henderson Letter Writing Contest pose with Mr. E. B. Henderson, II, at the Tinner Hill Celebration last Saturday. From left to right are Sam Atkeson, Hannah Gann, Kelley Frank, Nicole Peyton, and Corey Sites. Not pictured are John Vroom and Mary Ma. (Photo by Melisa Atkeson)

Jessie Thackrey and daughter Sue Thackrey, both educators, served as judges, and also served as hostesses when they opened their lovely home as the site for the second round of essay readings.  Virginia Tech professor Dr. Caren Yglesias  and University of Maryland professor Dr. Elizabeth Anne Robertson Tchabo were among the judges.  Dr. Yglesias stated, “I am delighted that Tinner Hill is encouraging students to hone their writing skills.” 

Dr. Tchabo, psychologist and child development specialist and frequent THHF essay contest judge, stated “on the whole, the middle school essays were excellent for their developmental level” and vowed to try to raise more prize money for next year, “We’d like to expand the contest so that middle school students will have their own prize pool and not compete against high school students.”  Although there have been middle school winners in the past, there were no middle school winners this year.  All middle school students will receive a certificate of participation.  Public Relations and Marketing Manager for Virginia Tech, National Capital Region, Barbara Micale said “The students essays were often persuasive and reflected the level of concern many students have about multicultural relations, racism and diversity acceptance.  

Tinner Hill volunteer Greg Woodyard commented on the amount of time students put into writing the essays stating, “Many of these essays showed that the students had done additional research to write these letters, I am amazed at the critical thinking the students display.”   

Other winners were: Kaihua Zheng from Woodson High School ($50)

John Broom, George Mason High School ($50)

Nicole Peyton, George Mason High School ($50)

Mary Ma, George Mason High School ($25)

Lacey Knizner Hayfield High School ($25)

Joanna Han, Fairfax High School ($25)

Corey Sites George Mason High School ($25)