Alumni Awards

We the People

The We the People Alumni Awards will be presented at the conclusion of the National Finals weekend in Washington, D.C. in April, 2027. Two honorees will be selected from nominated alums. The categories are as follows:

Outstanding Young Alumni Award

To recognize an alum who has distinguished themselves through service to their community, country, or society at large. For alums 18–34 years of age at the time of nomination.

Cincinnatus
Award

Created to honor an alumnus/a who has provided extraordinary service to the world and who represents the ideals of virtuous service to benefit the common good. For alums over 35 years of age.

    • Participated in a We the People simulated hearing at any level 

    • Currently 18 years or older

    • Cincinnatus Award nominees must be over 35 years of age

    • Nominations must be received by 11:59 p.m. PT, November 30, 2026.

    • Nominators must complete this online form.

    • Nominators may include supporting documents and URLs by submitting them through this survey or emailing them to Development@civiced.org. If emailed, please include both the nominee’s and nominator’s names in the email subject line.

    • Nominees can nominate themselves.

    • Because not all nominees will receive an award, keeping the nomination confidential is strongly recommended.

    • These awards are granted only once per recipient and cannot be conferred again in subsequent years. However, prior applicants and nominees who were not previous winners are warmly encouraged to resubmit. 

    • Members of the Selection Committee are ineligible for nomination.

Submit a Nomination for the Alumni Award

Meet the 2026 We the People Alumni Award Winners

Outstanding Young Alumni Award:

  • We the People Class of 2024

  • Faith Lutheran Middle and High School

Akash Abraham is a sophomore at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia double-majoring in American Politics and Economics. Originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, Akash participated in Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School's We The People programs, where his coach, Mrs. Tish Carroll inspired him to work with younger We The People students and expand his passion for civics.

As a college student, Akash has expanded his passion for politics and civics by participating in campus political journalism, doing 2 foreign policy research internships, and leading the Washington and Lee University Mock Convention's political research organization. He gives special thanks to his parents, Priya and Ravi, whose hard work and sacrifices as immigrants from India inspire him to use his passion for law and politics in order to make their American Dream a reality for everyone.

Akash Abraham

Cincinnatus Award:

  • We the People Class of 1989

  • Lincoln Southeast High School

Derek Chollet is Managing Director and Head of the JPMorganChase Center for Geopolitics, where he leads a firmwide advisory team helping clients anticipate and respond to a range of issues around the globe. Over the course of nearly three decades, he has become one of Washington’s leading foreign policy practitioners and thinkers, having served in key positions in the Pentagon, US State Department, White House, Congress, and several leading research institutions.

He served most recently as the chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and previously as the counselor of the US Department of State. In these roles he was a top leader at the Pentagon and State Department and a key adviser to both the secretaries of state and defense, playing a central part in shaping US policy toward the Middle East and Ukraine, and trouble-shooting crises from Burma to the Balkans.

Outside of government, Chollet has been a prominent foreign affairs analyst. He is currently a Carnegie Distinguished Fellow at Columbia University’s Institute of Global Politics and has previously served as executive vice president and senior advisor for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), and as a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House. He has also been a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institution, the Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins/SAIS, and the American Academy in Berlin.

Chollet is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of eight books on US foreign policy, the most recent being The Middle Way: How Three Presidents Shaped America’s Role in the World (Oxford University Press). Educated at Cornell, he did graduate work at Columbia and was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Derek Chollet

Stay Connected. Stay Involved.

  • Join the We the People Alumni Network LinkedIn group, run by alumni for alumni. Find career connections, academic advice, and people who–when it comes to your love of case analysis or political philosophy–they just get it.

  • Serve as a judge at a local or state hearing. Share your story. Mentor a student. The state and national programs depend on you.

  • Support the next generation of We the People students. See how your support can carry forward civic education. Donate today.

  • Know an alumna or alumnus doing remarkable things? We want to hear about them. Submit a nomination today.