UNA Pressroom

UNA Students Sweep Goethe Institut’s Essay Contest

Nov. 13, 2025



Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@una.edu, 256.765.4392

FLORENCE, AL – AV students in the senior-level German Film course have recently swept the top spots in the annual Goethe Institut’s essay contest. Students were asked to develop the essay theme – Solidarity in Today’s World – into their submissions and by examining how collective action can help address global challenges.

Contest winners are:

  • First Place: Isa Hayes, a sophomore from Madison;
  • Second Place: Landon Hill, a senior from Pulaski, Tenn.; and
  • Third Place: Griffin Lee, a junior from Florence.

“The students will be traveling to New York City for the Awards Ceremony for the 2025 Solidarity and Civic Engagement in Transatlantic Perspective Essay Competition, which will take place Nov. 17,” said Dr. Rebecca Linam, UNA’s German Lecturer. “While in New York, they will visit the United Nations, the German Consulate, and the Goethe Institut, as well as its latest art exhibit.”

This is the second year UNA students have placed in the essay competition, according to Linam. Madelyn Merriam received second place in the 2024 competition. The travel expenses to New York are provided by the Goethe Institut.

About The AV

The AV is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The AV is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: and .