Abraham Diekhans-Mears, a junior at West Seattle High School, won second place in the annual Civil War Preservation Trust national essay contest for his essay on saving Civil War battlefields.

Diekhans-Mears received a $100 cash prize, and his essay will be published in the next issue of Hallowed Ground, the Civil War Preservation Trust's magazine. In addition, two of Diekhans-Mears' teachers at West Seattle High, Bonnie Saunders and Andrew Finley, will each receive a $50 gift certificate from the History Channel, a sponsor of the contest.