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dedication and hard work in the study of foreign languages. The
Matilda W. Sinclaire Language Award
recognizes outstand-
ing accomplishment in the study of Category III or IV languages
and their associated cultures. This year AFSA refined the lan-
guages that qualify, moving from the term “hard languages” to
Category III or IV languages. This year we had 18 nominations,
a record number brought about through close work between FSI
and AFSA. Ten Foreign Service members received the
award—$1,000 and a certificate of recognition signed
by the AFSA president and the chair of the AFSA
Awards and Plaque Committee.
This year’s recipients were: Miriam R. Asnes
(Arabic), Sonnet A. Frisbee (Czech), Paul F. Narain
(Greek), Jacob M. Rocca (Hebrew), Timothy Shriver
(Hungarian), Robert Silberstein (Lithuanian), Alan
J. Smith (Russian), Adam T. Stevens (Vietnamese),
Matthew Wilson (Bulgarian) and Bryan G. Wockley
(Persian/Dari/Afghan).
Kennan Writing Award
Each year, AFSA participates in graduation ceremo-
nies at the National War College at Fort Lesley J. Mc-
Nair in southwest Washington, D.C., to honor the
State Department graduate whose final paper is cho-
sen as the best essay on strategy or policy. The 2014
winner of the
George F. Kennan Strategic Writing
Award
was Mark Libby. Libby’s paper explores the
United Kingdom’s and France’s small but significant
nuclear arsenals and the implications for U.S. secu-
rity priorities, from non-proliferation
to reform of the NATO alliance.
Libby received a $250 award from
AFSA President Robert Silverman and
Commandant Brigadier General Tom
Cosentino.
AFSA Memorial Plaque
The AFSA Memorial Plaques honor
colleagues who have given their lives
while serving the American people
abroad. The first plaque was unveiled in
the C Street lobby of the Department of
State in 1933.
This year AFSA added one name to
the plaques: Antoinette “Toni” Beau-
mont Tomasek, a USAID FSO and
community health specialist who died
from injuries sustained in a car accident
while returning from an inspection and
delivery of medicine to a health clinic
in Haiti. Tomasek, who died on June
29, 2013, is survived by her husband, Adam Tomasek, and two
young children. Tomasek’s name brings the total inscribed on the
marble plaques to 246.
Following the ceremony, AFSA, Embassy Port-au-Prince and
State coordinated a video teleconference for Ms. Tomasek’s fam-
ily with Ambassador Pamela White and staff members of the em-
bassy in Haiti.
l
AFSA Awardees, Elected Officials, and Staff:
(Left-Right)
Front Row:
Amb. Jonathan
Addleton, Charles Stuart “Stu” Kennedy, Mary Kay Cunningham, David Holmes.
Back Row:
Clair Coleman, AFSA Staff Attorney Raeka Safai, USAID VP Sharon Wayne, AFSA Director
Ian Houston, AFSA President Bob Silverman, Secretary of State John Kerry, State VP
Matthew Asada, William “Ed” O’Bryan, Awards Coordinator Perri Green.
Family members of Antoinette “Toni” Tomasek look on at the AFSA Memorial
Plaque in the State Department’s C Street lobby.