The Medusa Mythology Exam Committee is proud to present the winners in its 2009 Achievement Award Program. Achievement Award winners were required to submit an essay of not more than 450 words that addressed the topic, “Tell an episode from Jason, Theseus, Odysseus, or Aeneas’ adventures from a woman’s point of view.” A student’s overall score in the competition included essay points, teacher recommendation, and Medusa test score.

Copies of the top essays (which were not necessarily written by the students with the highest overall scores) are included here. They appear as the students wrote them; we have not edited them for content or mechanics. All essays are reprinted with the permission of their respective authors.

 Congratulations to the 2009 Achievement Awards Winners:

$750 Minerva Award – Maya Wei, Thomas Jefferson School for Science & Technology, Alexandria, VA (Christine Conklin, Teacher)

$550 Apollo Award – Christopher Londa, Lunenburg High School, Lunenburg, MA (Tamara Yourk, Teacher)

$300 Nike Award – David Jaffe, Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago, IL (Chester Tylinski, Teacher)

$100 Musa Award – Frances Christodoulou, Sydney Girls’ High School, Sydney, Australia (Karyn Moon, Teacher)

$100 Musa Award – Rosemary Fung, Sydney Girls’ High School,  Sydney, Australia (Karyn Moon, Teacher)

$100 Musa Award – Emma Leahy, Classical Cottage School, Winchester, VA (Susan Schearer, Teacher)

$100 Musa Award – Erika Weiskopf, homeschool in Latin and Classics, Alexandria, VA (Andrea Weiskopf, Teacher)

Each essay was read by a committee of classicists and creative writing instructors who scored it without seeing any information that could identify the writer or knowing what scores the other committee members had given it. 

Thanks to all students and teachers who participated in this year’s Achievement Awards Program.