Mayborn National History Writing Contest – Top Writer

Shreeya Umashankar, student of Class XII-V of DPS R.K. Puram, has been adjudged amongst the top writers worldwide in the Mayborn National History Writing Contest, a prestigious international competition on national history narratives, sponsored by George Bush Presidential Library & Museum and the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism, USA. Her paper, a historical narrative, titled ‘Delhi, 1857: The Uprising’, was based on primary research done by her. The jury consisted of Ron Powers, the renowned Pulitzer Prize and Emmy winner.

She has been invited to attend the prestigious international Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference 2013 (July 19-21), an annual gathering of the biggest names in the world of literature and journalism, with all expenses paid.

She will be honored before the Conference Speakers, to whom she will also present her paper. The speakers include Rick Atkinson, three time Pulitzer Prize winner; Skip Hollandsworth, four time nominee and National Magazine Award winner; Joyce Carol Oates, three time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature, winner of the National Humanities Medal and the National Book Award; Helen Benedict, Professor at Columbia University; Tom French, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter; Kevin Merida, Managing Editor of The Washington Post; James McGrath Morris, President of Biographers International Organisation; Susan Orlean, Oscar winner; and Jim Hornsfischer, leading World War II historian, amongst others.

Her paper will be published in the Dallas Morning News and on dallasnews.com