ANNA — The longest continuously awarded high school chemistry prize in the United States has three competitors from Anna High School this year.

In the 2016 competition for Anna are juniors Kyle Christmas, Andrew Shoemaker, and Landon Van Horn.

These three students were given a standard chemistry exam to determine their eligibility for an essay contest. The top 10 scorers on the exam are then invited to write an essay on how chemistry affects their lives. At a Dayton Section of the American Chemical Society Meeting, the top three essayists are awarded $1000, $750, and $500 with the remaining essayists are awarded $100. Although the students from Anna were not in the top 10 scorers in the area, all top scorers of the exam from each high school are presented with a plaque.

Originally established by Charles A. Thomas and Carroll A. Hochwalt, former Dayton chemists and Monsanto researchers, the top chemistry students in the area have been recognized since 1943. In 1990, the family of the late Austin M. Patterson, also a prominent Dayton chemist, assumed sponsorship.