Civic courage is when an individual or group of individuals act, advocate, organize, or lead on an issue of importance to the community at great personal, political, or professional risk. These individuals may not necessarily prevail in the short term, but their courageous actions guide our community toward better values and greater equity.
Perhaps the best way to define civic courage is by telling the stories of those individuals who best exemplified it in their lives. Take inspiration from the subjects of the past winning essays:
2023
Winner: Ramona Bennett by Sonia Kamineni
Runner-up: Earl George: The Battle for Labor and Civil Rights by Cecelia Pyfer
Runner-up: Women Against Thirteen: Upholding Local Queer Rights by Anne Welman
2022
Winner: The Fight for Food Justice (Rosalinda Guillen) by Sidra Wernli
Runner-up: Florestine “Flo” Ware (1912-1981): A Community-Minded Change-Maker by Marysia Koltonowska
Runner-up: The Environmental Activism of Hazel Wolf by Olivia Turner
2021
Winner: Deborah “Tsi-Cy-Altsa” Parker by Julianna Folta
Runner-up: How a Nisqually Icon Freed the River and Inspired Generations of Activism (Billy Frank Jr.) by Eric Anthony Souza-Ponce
Runner-up: The Flap of a Wing, the Overhaul of a City: Seattle’s First Asian American Councilman (Wing Luke) by Taylor Yingshi
2020
Winner: Cyrus Habib by Deborah Tesfay
Runner-up: Unity Transcends Barriers: Phil Hayasaka and the Unification of Asian Americans by Evelyn Chen
Runner-up: Fighting for the Original Seattleites by Della Floyd
2019
Winner: The Gang of Four by Ruth Tedla
Runner-up: We are OneAmerica: Pramila Jayapal and the Protection of Immigrant Rights by Kristin Hong
Runner-up: The Island Amidst the Storm: The Story of Akiko Kurose by Alex Huynh
2018
Winner: Hear Me Out: Maru Mora-Villalpando, the Deportation Machine, and the Universal Meaning of Liberation by Sophia Carey
Runner-up: Chief Leschi: The Story of a True American by Isabel Emery
Runner-up: Oil and Activists Don’t Mix: How Five Individuals Shut Down Five Pipelines by Sylvie Corwin
2017
Winner: Kneeling for a Nation: How One Team’s Participation in a Nationwide Movement Developed into a Force for Local Civic Change by Duncan King
Runner-up: Seattle’s Forgotten Heroine of Unionization (Alice Lord) by Ankitha Doddanari
Runner-up: John Singer and Paul Barwick’s Selfless Pursuit of Marriage Equality by Kristin M. Hayman
2016
Winner: In Search of a Home: The Fight for Open Housing in Seattle by Ellis Magotswe Simani
Runner-up: The Four Amigos: Uniting Cultures and Crossing Boundaries by Luisa Moreno
Runner-up: A Legacy of Justice (Takuji Yamashita) by Sarah Tocher
2015
Winner: Preserve Our Islands’ Fight to Protect Maury Island by Natalie Quek
Runner-up: Reviving an Ancient Whaling Tradition in the Face of Discrimination: Cultural Courage by the Makah Tribe by Lena Easton-Calabria
Runner-up: Washington State’s Greatest Civil Rights Advocate (Nettie J. Asberry) by Noah Foster-Koth
2014
Winner: A Culture Lost and Found: Bernie Whitebear and the Seattle Urban Indian Community by Quinn Buchwald
Runner-up: An (Extra)Ordinary Woman (Margarethe Cammermeyer) by Alana Mabrito
Runner-up: Civic Courage: The Stories That Should Be Told (Alice Lord) by Jasmine Shirey
Runner-up: Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi by Connie Mei
Runner-up: The Spark in One, the Voices of Many (Bernie Whitebear) by Aliha Strange
Runner-up: Jon Greenberg: A Civic Hero Inspiring Civic Heroes by Elena Carter