Knight Essay Resources

National Deadline for Knight Essay Applications is February 15, 2024

The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) invites all high school students (9th through 12th grades) interested in the American Revolution to participate in the George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest. The contest is open to all US Citizen and Legal Resident students attending home schools, public, parochial, or private high schools in that same grade range.

To participate, students must submit an original 800- to 1,200-word essay based on an event, person, philosophy or ideal associated with the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, or the framing of the United States Constitution. Each student’s essay will be judged based upon its historical accuracy, clarity, organization, grammar and spelling, and documentation.

The contest is conducted in three phases: the local chapter, state-level society, and national phases. The contest must be entered through an SAR chapter near the student’s residence. In some cases, the contest may be entered at the state level (if the local society does not have chapters or the chapters are not participating) and a contact-at-large should be used to find out more contest details. The list of contest contacts listed below can provide you with assistance in entering the Knight Essay Contest. Only one entry per student is permitted per contest year.

complete set of rules, along with the application for both the applicant and the sponsoring SAR members, can be found below. Please be aware that the local application deadline dates may vary, so interested applicants should reach out to their local SAR member listed below for further details.

Knight Essay State Contest Contacts

SAR Society & Deadline Essay Contact
Alabama (31 DEC) Edmon H. McKinley Email Link
Alaska (31 JAN) Thomas J. Rollman
Email Link
Arkansas (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson Email Link
Arizona (31 DEC) Jack Duffy
Email Link
California (31 DEC) Patrick Cecil

Email Link

Colorado (31 DEC) John McFarland

Email Link

Connecticut (01 JAN) John R. Morgan

Email Link

Dakota (31 DEC) Doug Frazer

Email Link

Delaware (31 DEC) Larry Josefowski

Email Link

District of Columbia (31 DEC) Doug Brooks

Email Link

Empire State-NY (31 DEC) Richard C. Smith

Email Link

Florida (31 DEC) Hampton Allen Email Link
Georgia (15 DEC) Terry A. Gibbs

Email Link

Hawaii (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson
Email Link
Idaho (31 DEC) James E. Elie

Email Link

Illinois (15 JAN) Richard Ruedin

Email Link

Indiana (31 DEC) James D. Hamilton Email Link
International (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson

Email Link

Iowa (31 DEC) Doug Frazer

Email Link

Kansas (31 DEC) Stuart W. Conrad

Email Link

Kentucky (31 DEC) Dale W. Henley

Email Link

Louisiana (15 JAN) George Clemenceau

Email Link

Maine (31 DEC) David L. Manchester

Email Link

Maryland (31 DEC) C. Louis Raborg, Jr.

>Email Link

Massachusetts (31 DEC) Joseph Gauthier

Email Link

Michigan (31 DEC) John Critchett

Email Link

Minnesota (31 DEC) Doug Frazer

Email Link

Mississippi (31 DEC) Edward Campbell

Email Link

Missouri (31 DEC) Dale A. Schmidt

Email Link

Montana (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson

Email Link

Nebraska (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson

Email Link

Nevada (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson

Email Link

New Hampshire (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson

Email Link

New Jersey (31 DEC) Roger Williams

Email Link

New Mexico (31 DEC) Kenneth M. Nicholson

Email Link

North Carolina SAR (Deadline December 31) Stephen A. Morris

Email Link

Ohio (31 DEC) Donald C. McGraw, Jr.

Email Link

Oklahoma (31 DEC) Ronald W. Painter

Email Link

Oregon (31 DEC) Michael Tieman

Email Link

Pennsylvania SAR (Deadline December 31) J. Rennick Steele, Jr.

Email Link

Rhode Island (31 DEC) Kevin England

Email Link

South Carolina (31 DEC) Douglas Doster

Email Link

Tennessee (31 DEC) George E. Pesely

Email Link

Texas (31 DEC) David Peavy

Email Link

Utah (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson
Email Link
Vermont (31 DEC) Zachariah L. Fike

Email Link

Virginia (05 JAN) Richard M. Sherman Email Link
Washington (31 DEC) Fred Templin

Email Link

West Virginia (31 DEC) Thomas J. Galloway

Email Link

Wisconsin (31 DEC) Thomas P. Curtis II

Email Link

Wyoming (31 DEC) Christopher Smithson

Email Link


Mr. Christopher Smithson is the current
George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest Judge-at-Large.

Essay Contest Winners

2023 Winner: Lillian Yang, Anchorage, Alaska

Second Place Adam Berger,
Pawcatuck, Connecticut
Third Place David Gibson,
Copper Canyon, Texas
Fourth Place Attilio Ciccozzi,
Roanoke, Virginia
Fifth Place James Dykes,
Shawnee, Kansas

Previous Winners

The George S. and Stella M. Knight Essay Contest Committee is proud to announce the winner of the national contest. Each year, the SAR receives an average of thirty state-level winners from around the country to compete in the national-level contest. Visitors can find a list of the previous George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest national winners below.

Year Winning Essayist Sponsoring SAR Society
2023 Lillian Yang Alaska SAR
2022 Jiayang Jin Empire State SAR
2021 Noah Grebe Kentucky SAR
2020 Wilson G. Reeves Alabama SAR
2019 Caleb S. Sheppard Florida SAR
2018 Katherine McLeod Texas SAR
2017 Cameron Chyla Wisconsin SAR
2016 Joseph Nusbaum Florida SAR
2015 Matthew Penza Connecticut SAR
2014 Elizabeth Lilly Virginia SAR
2013 Bryan Habashi Virginia SAR
2012 Katie Lavender Virginia SAR
2011 Amanda Schanz Virginia SAR
2010 Cody E. Nager Empire State SAR
2009 Hayley Schoeppler Wisconsin SAR
2008 Jenna Barker South Carolina SAR
2007 Derek McMahan Kentucky SAR
2006 Kristin Personius Texas SAR
2005 H. Curtis Kuntz Pennsylvania SAR
2004 Daniel E. Sigler Empire State SAR
2003 Melissa McLaine Georgia SAR
2002 Nathan W. Skelly Missouri SAR
2001 Stephanie Condon California SAR
2000 Jenna Dondero Texas SAR
1999 Courtney Powell Virginia SAR
1998 Kimberly Braun Delaware SAR
1997 John Rackson Maryland SAR
1996 Justin Jaeck Wisconsin SAR
1995 Catherine Clayton Texas SAR
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