About the Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award
Moritz Thomsen
THE PEACE CORPS EXPERIENCE AWARD was initiated in 1992, and it has been presented annually to a Peace Corps Volunteer or staff member, past or present for the best depiction of life in the Peace Corps — be it daily life, project assignment, travel, host country nationals, other Volunteers, readjustment. Initially entries were short works including: personal essay, story, novella, poem, letter, cartoon, or song.
In 1997, this award was renamed to honor Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965–67) whose Living Poor has been widely cited as an outstanding telling of the essence of the Peace Corps experience, and beginning in 2009 memoirs were also considered for The Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award.Awards are presented to books published during the previous year.
To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover or the bold book title, and Peace Corps Worldwide — an Amazon Associate — will receive a small remittance that will help support these annual writers awards.
The winners of The Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award are —
2024
Immense Missed Opportunities – IMO
by Helene Ballman Dudley (Colombia 1968-70; Slovakia 1997-99)
2023
A Five Finger Feast
Two Years in Kazakhstan, Lessons from the Peace Corps
by Helene Ballman Dudley (Colombia 1968-70; Slovakia 1997-99)
2021
Between Inca Walls: A Peace Corps Memoir
by Evelyn Kohl La Torre (Peru 1964-66)
2020
Eradicating Smallpox In Ethiopia:
Peace Corps Volunteers’ Accounts of Their Adventures, Challenges and Achievements
(a collection of essays)
Edited By Gene L. Bartley (Ethiopia 1970–75),
John Scott Porterfield (Ethiopia1971-73),
Alan Schnur (Ethiopia 1971–73), and
James W. Skelton, Jr. (1970–72)
2019
The Vodka Diaries: A Peace Corps Volunteer’s Adventures in Russia
(memoir)
Richard Sayette (Russian Far East 1994–95)
2018
Walled In, Walled Out: A Young American Woman in Iran
(memoir)
Mary Dana Marks (Iran 1964–66)
o
2017
Journey to the Heart of the Condor:
Love, Loss and Survival in a South American Dictatorship
(memoir)
Emily Creigh (Paraguay 1975-77) and Dr. Martín Almada
o
2016
Marrying Santiago
(memoir)
Suzanne Adam (Colombia 1964–66)
o
2015
At Home on the Kazakh Steppe: A Peace Corps Memoir
(memoir)
by Janet Givens (Kazakhstan 2004–06)
o
2014
História, História: Two Years in the Cape Verde Islands
(memoir)
Eleanor Stanford (Cape Verde 1998–2000)
o
2013
Through the Eyes of My Children: The Adventures of a Peace Corps Volunteer Family
(memoir)
Frances Stone (Philippines 1971–73)
o
2012
Out in the All of It
(memoir)
Chris Honoré (Colombia 1967–69)
o
2011
When Things Get Dark: A Mongolian Winter’s Tale
(memoir)
Matthew J. Davis (Mongolia 2000–2002)
o
2009
Triumph & Hope: Golden Years with The Peace Corps in Honduras
(memoir)
Barbara E. Joe (Honduras 2000-03)
and
Kitchen Diplomacy
(an essay)
by Kristin Ruger (Kazahkstan 2005–07)
2008
Second Time Around
(an essay)
by Kathleen Johnson Coskran (Ethiopia 1964–67)
o
2007
Maid in Morocco
(an essay)
by Orin K. Hargraves (Morocco 1980–82)
o
2006
The Rainy Season in Guatemala
(an essay)
by Jason Boog (Guatemala 2000–02)
o
2005
The Things I Gave Her
(essay)
by Lisa Kahn Schnell (Ghana 1998–2000)
o
2004
Peace Corps Was
(essay)
by Peg Clement (Tunisia 1975–77)
o
2003
The Last Ride
(essay)
by Elise Annunziata (Senegal 1996–99)
o
2002
Thirty Years Later
(essay)
by Barbara Carey (India 1966–68)
o
2001
Telling Time
(essay)
by Katherine Jamieson (Guyana 1996–98)
1999
White
(essay)
by Lynn Marshall (Mali 1997–99)
o
1998
Water
(essay)
by Rachel Schneller (Mali 1996–98)
o
1997
Innocence Melts Obstinacy
(essay)
by Leita Kaldi (Senegal 1993–96)
o
1996
To Peel Potatoes
(essay)
by John P. Deever (Ukraine 1993–95)
o
1995
Better Remember This
(essay)
by Meg Sullivan (Kenya 1992–94)
o
1994
The Ballroom
(essay)
by Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988–90)
o
1993
Broken English
(essay)
by Greg Horn (New Guinea 1991–92)
o
1992
Development is Down This Road
(essay)
by Abigail Calkins Aguirre (Cameroon 1987–90)
o