On behalf of the Midwest Slavic Association, CSEES would like to congratulate the winners of the 2017 Midwest Essay Contest! Natasha Kadlec, University of Pennsylvania, received first place in the undergraduate category for her essay titled "Strength through Weakness: Kenosis as Socialist Ideal in Pre-Revolutionary Gorky." In the graduate category, Deirdre Ruscitti Harshman earned first place with her essay "Cooking Up a New Everyday: Communal Kitchens in the Revolutionary Era, 1890-1935." Harshman is a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Both winners will receive a one-year membership to ASEEES, and Harshman will be entered in the ASEEES national essay competition.