2025 Social Justice Research Paper and Multimedia Award Winners

Congratulations to our student winners for the 2025 Anne Braden Institute Social Justice Awards! We had an incredible set of submissions this year, which made for some very competitive fields. Our thanks to the nine wonderful judges who spent many hours to review the anonymous submissions and make tough decisions to identify this year’s winners.

2025 Award winners (L-R): Joy Adeleye, Meg Powers, Emily Ravenscraft, Carla Almaguer, Innocent Ntwali, and Justin Gilbert

2025 Graduate Paper Prize

This year’s graduate paper prize hosted a large field of submissions from multiple colleges and disciplines. From this group, the judges chose joint winners and two honorable mentions. 

Joint winners:

Joy Adeleye, PhD student, Urban and Public Affairs, A&S.
Paper: From Japa to Japada: Media Myths and the Realities of Nigerian Migrants and Returnees.

Meg Powers, Clinical Psychology PhD Student, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, A&S.

Paper: “I Am the Very Opposite of Racist”: A Mixed-Methods Examination of the White Fragility Response.

Honorable Mentions:

Daniel Bullman, Social Work Research PhD student, Kent School of Social Work and Family Science.
Paper: From Boxes to Bias: A Critical Analysis of Ban-the-Box Policies and Racialized Employment Exclusion.  

Benjamin Botkin, MA student, History, A&S.
Paper: Manning Marable and Malcolm X.

2025 Undergraduate Paper Prize

Emily Ravenscraft, Individualized Major in Inclusive Cultural Leadership (A&S). "Reimagining the Canon: Inclusive Programming & the American Orchestra.”

2025 Multimedia Prize

Carla Almaguer (Business Administration, College of Business), Innocent Ntwali (Business Administration, College of Business), Justin Gilbert (College of Business), and peer.

Presentation/infographic Project: “Implicit Bias in Hiring and Recruitment.”