Surgam

The Philolexian Foundation

In service to the Philolexian Society of Columbia University · Founded MDCCCII

For Patriotic Oration · Established MCMII

The Centennial Washington Prize

Awarded every four years to the student who delivers the finest oration on a patriotic theme. Open to all Columbia and Barnard undergraduates.

Established in 1902 to mark the Society's centenary of patriotic instruction, the Centennial Washington Prize is the oldest active award in the Philolexian portfolio. It is given every four years (a cadence chosen to align with the Society's quadrennial sense of national mood) for the finest oration on a patriotic theme, delivered before a panel of judges drawn from the faculty and the Society.

The Prize is open to all undergraduates at Columbia and Barnard, regardless of Society membership. The 1943 wartime revival of Philolexian, organized by Jacques Barzun, had undergraduates competing for this very prize. It carries a separate endowment, and the prize is the largest in the Society's program.

Cadence

Every four years

Eligibility

Columbia & Barnard undergraduates

Prize

$9,000

Established

MCMII (1902)

Past Recipients

YearRecipientSubject of the Oration
2025Gabriel Uceda-Sosa, CC '28Companion to Clara Noggle's Philolexian Prize the same year
2021Katherine Chen, CC '24Also recipient of the Philolexian Prize
2017Julien Reimann, CC '18
2013Will Tant, GS '14
2009Adam Hoffman, CC '10“Hedgehogs and Foxes”
2005Andrew Z. Liebowitz, CC '06“Of Mystics and Social Workers”
2001Carson Cistulli, CC '00Awarded as the Philolexian Centennial Prize that year
…1955–2000 cycles not yet located in the Society's records.
1951Robert Gottlieb, CC '52
1947Donald M. Friedman, CC '49“Children have the alarming habit…”
1927Jacques Barzun, CC '27“The Gospel of Loyalty and the International Mind”
1915Douglas M. Black, CC '16
1911Dixon Ryan Fox, CC '11“Balance”
1902Fremont A. Higgins, CC '08“The Patriotism of the Fathers” · runner-up: A. Joyce Kilmer, CC '08