<p>The Brown University Library will honor eight area youth at a Jan. 31 luncheon as winners of the 2010 Hildene-Brown Lincoln Essay Competition.</p>

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The Brown University Library will honor eight area youth at a Jan. 31 luncheon as winners of the 2010 Hildene-Brown Lincoln Essay Competition. The winners were selected from a strong pool of 67 entries submitted by students living, working and/or attending public and private schools across Providence County.

First Prize: Sherry Romanzi, Barrington (Gordon School)

Second Prize: Audrey Chisholm, Providence (Gordon School)

Third Prize (tie): Sabrina Fowler, Millville, Mass. (LaSalle Academy), and Gianna Jasinski, Greenville (LaSalle Academy)

Honorable Mention:

  • Marydjina Barionnette, Providence (Nathanael Greene Middle School)
  • Mia Murphy, Barrington (Gordon School)
  • Katherine Rogers, Rumford (La Salle Academy)
  • Adianna San Lucas, Providence (La Salle Academy)

All eight winners and their parents or a parent and a teacher will be guests at a Lincoln birthday luncheon Jan. 31, at which noted Lincoln scholar and former Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank J. Williams will preside. The first, second, and third prize winners will read their essays aloud.

“The Brown University Library and Hildene congratulate the winners and hope the competition will serve to encourage further study of the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln throughout Rhode Island, capitalizing on the superior resources available at Brown for this purpose,” said Harriette Hemmasi, Brown University librarian. The essay competition is part of the Brown University Library’s ongoing programming for the Abraham Lincoln bicentennial.

Brown University’s John Hay Library, named for the 1858 Brown alumnus who served as Lincoln’s private secretary, holds an extensive collection of manuscripts and printed materials documenting Lincoln’s life and legacy, a portion of which has been made publicly available in digital format at dl.lib.brown.edu/lincoln/index.html.

The Hildene-Brown Lincoln Essay Competition forms part of an ongoing joint effort by the Brown University Library and Hildene to promote the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. Hildene, located in Manchester, Vt., was built by Robert Todd Lincoln in 1905 and was the home of Lincoln descendents until 1975. It is now a nonprofit museum and education center.