The 2021 Honorable Mention Award for the Lamb Prize has been presented to Andrew Hinckley of Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island.  Mr. Hinckley’s award-winning paper is entitled “Ending Partisan Gerrymandering.” His application was sponsored by Professor Richard Holtzman, who wrote, “Andrew is an excellent writer and critical, analytical thinker.” 

The Selection Committee was unanimous in awarding Honorable Mention. The Committee commented that Mr. Hinckley’s paper responded “to the call for ‘innovation’ in both the selection of topics and approach to writing about the longstanding problem of partisan gerrymandering.” 

Since the Lamb Prize’s inaugural award in 2015, its reputation and selectivity has been growing. One purpose of the Prize is to encourage undergraduates and promote creativity. The Prize has always attracted strong competition among high performing students. However, the number of excellent submissions in 2021 challenged the Selection Committee to choose just one student to honor. Multiple papers demonstrated top-quality research, innovation, and writing. 

Although he didn’t win, Mr. Hinckley’s application deserves recognition. “We wanted to give students proper recognition of a strong field of submissions,” said Nicholas P. Lovrich, Jr., Regents Professor Emeritus at Washington State University and member of the Selection Committee. Mr. Hinckley’s “strong submission to the competition” fits that purpose.