2025 CONTEST WINNERS
The annual College Essay contest is organized by China Focus of the 21st Century China Center at UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy and co-sponsored by the 1990 Institute and The Carter Center. We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 contest.
2025 1990 Institute Prize
Pablo Dufour
The London School of Economics and Political Science
Degree: MSc International Relations
Nationality: German/French
About the Author - Pablo Dufour holds a BA from the University of Heidelberg, which included a final year at Sciences Po Paris. He is currently pursuing an MSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and works as a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. His first book is set to be published by Oxford University Press in May 2025. Pablo has previously worked at the United Nations, the German Federal Foreign Office, and GIZ.
2025 1990 Institute Runner Up Prize
Runner up prizes will be announced at a later date. Stay tuned...
Previous Winning Essays
2024 1990 Institute Prize Winner
(As submitted in Chinese)
Rebuilding Sino-U.S. People-to-people Exchanges: Personal Reflections (Translated)
By
Lin Jiawen (林佳文)
Beijing Foreign Studies University
Lin Jiawen has completed her first year of her master’s program at School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University. She is studying western political institutions with a focus on American society and party politics. She also has a bachelor background of Bulgarian philology, and has kept her research interest in area study on Central and Eastern European countries. Her rich overseas people-to-people exchange experience and internship in The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries helped make her future career plan. She is ambitious to contribute to deepening the friendship between China and other countries.
2024 1990 Institute Runner Up Prize Essay
Kingdom In the Middle: China as an International Mediator
By Payton Morlock
University of California, San Diego
Payton Morlock is a second-year Master of Chinese Economic and Political Affairs student at University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. His focus is on the Chinese Economy, with previous experience interning at Institute for National Policy Research in Taipei, Taiwan, and being a current Policy Analyst Intern for the International Organization for Migration Rwanda Mission.
2024 1990 Institute Runner Up Prize Essay
The Future of the U.S.-China Educational Exchanges
By Mustapha Dukuly
Columbia University
Mustapha Dukuly is a second-year Master of Public Administration candidate at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), concentrating in International Finance and Economic Policy with a specialization in International Organization and U.N. Studies. He graduated summa cum laude from Worcester State University with a bachelor's degree in Economics and Liberal Studies, winning the 2021 Robert K. O'Brien Next Big Idea Contest. At SIPA, Mustapha's research spans U.S.-China educational exchange, U.S.-Africa relations in education, international institutions, and sustainable development. He has a particular interest in Liberian-American diplomatic relations, including visa reciprocity. Mustapha's work aims to shape a more collaborative future in the global arena.
2023 College Essay Contest
In 2023, the Carter Center join the 1990 Institute and the 21th Century China Center at University of California San Diego sponsoring the essay contest. The 2023 China Focus Essay Contest, a prestigious competition that invites talented individuals to showcase their insights on U.S.-China dynamics, received a record number of submissions this year from brilliant minds around the world. Awards made as part of the essay content include the 1990 Institute Prize, the Jimmy Carter Prize, and two runner-ups.
The exceptional quality of the essays exceeded all expectations, making the selection process a challenging endeavor for the esteemed panel of judges. Submissions were diligently evaluated by a group of experts representing renowned organizations, including the 1990 Institute, the Carter Center, the 21st Century China Center at the University of California San Diego, the Fudan-UC Center, and China Focus.
Read the 1990 Institute prize winning essay “Politics Out the Way! Towards a Deeper U.S.-China Green Cooperation” by Katerina Yang and Ann-Alice Tichá.
2022 Contest Winners
Essay Topic 1
Both China and the U.S. face the challenge of large tech companies wielding huge influence in their respective economies and societies. How to regulate them without stifling growth or innovation is a key consideration for policymakers. Such regulations are also fraught with political and technological implications for both countries.
Write an essay that analyzes recent regulatory activities directed against large tech companies in both countries and considers their political, economic, or technological consequences. If appropriate, outline what principles should undergird a sensible regulatory framework that will promote innovation while protecting consumers.
Winning Essay
Innovation in Regulation: A Path Forward for U.S. Tech Competition with China
by William Yuen Yee
William Yuen Yee graduated from Columbia University with a double major in Political Science and East Asian Studies. His writing on China’s foreign relations and international trade has been published in the Center for Strategic and International Studies, The Diplomat, the Jamestown Foundation, and SupChina. This fall, he will pursue a master’s in International Governance and Diplomacy at the Paris School of International Affairs as the 2022 Michel David-Weill Scholarship laureate. Upon return to the U.S., William will matriculate at Harvard Law School.
Essay Topic 2
Both China and the United States face the problem of disinformation to some degree. How does the scale and content of disinformation reflect political and societal conflicts in both countries? Have both countries responded effectively to counter disinformation? Why or why not? In discussing these questions, be sure to define disinformation in both national contexts clearly.
Winning Essay
Information and Disinformation in the 21st Century
by Natasha Lock 洛夏
Yenching Academy of Peking University
Natasha Lock holds a degree in History, International Relations and Mandarin Chinese from the University of Exeter. As a Yenching Scholar at Peking University, her work focused on the Party’s use of historical narratives and modern Chinese nationalism. She was awarded Peking University’s prestigious ‘International Graduate of the Year’ award in 2020. Natasha currently resides in Taipei, where she is conducting field research alongside working in political consultancy. This year, she will join the Lau China Institute of King’s College London to pursue her doctoral studies in Chinese Research.