UH Hilo students win multiple awards in regional history competition

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
Contact:
Alyson Kakugawa-Leong, (808) 974-7642
Director, Media Relations, University Relations
Posted: Mar 21, 2011

Five members of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo chapter of Phi Alpha Theta (The National History Honor Society) participated in the organization’s 27th annual regional conference held March 12 at UH Mānoa and walked away with multiple honors, including two “Best Paper” awards.

Rebekah Carroll, Robert Franklin, Shaul Janes, Shohei Sato and Kamalei Stovall of UH Hilo’s Alpha Beta Omicron joined 24 other graduate and undergraduate students who submitted papers and/or made presentations at the prestigious gathering.

Franklin, whose work entitled "The War of Jenkins’ Ear: Jingoistic Mercantilism, Pacifistic Diplomacy, and the Securing of the Georgia Border," shared the award for “Best Undergraduate Paper” with one other entry. Last year, Franklin took second place honors in the same category, making his achievement at this year’s conference particularly satisfying.

Meanwhile, Stovall won the “Sara Sohmer Prize for the Best Graduate or Undergraduate Research Paper in Hawaiian or Pacific History,” for “Ka Po‘e i Aloha ka ‘Aina: The People Who Love the Land, A History of Creative Resistance.” This paper, analyzing Hawaiian resistance to foreign domination found in mo‘olelo, mele and hula, was written by Stovall in a recent Pacific History course.

“As always, UH Hilo brought their ‘A’ game, impressing the judges and audiences alike with interesting topics, well-researched and well-written papers, and stimulating and thoughtful presentations,” said Dr. Kerri Inglis, associate history professor and Alpha Beta Omicron advisor. “The judges, including our own Dr. Vera Parham, were impressed with the consistent quality of work coming out of UH Hilo and what that says about our history majors, minors and department.”

The papers students took to this conference were the result of research for their various upper-division courses. Inglis said UH Hilo’s participation in this year's conference was especially rewarding because the student team represented all five core areas in the history major (European, U.S., Asian, Pacific and Hawaiian history).

“The students rigorously read and revised each others' papers in preparation for the conference competition and all of their hard work clearly paid off,” Inglis said. “We have brought home at least one prize in each of the last six years; to have two papers recognized for their outstanding work at this year’s regional conference was very satisfying for all involved.”