The Mathematical Association of America's
George Pólya Award

This award, established in 1976, is named after the renowned teacher and writer, and is given for articles of expository excellence published in the College Mathematics Journal. This is an award of $500. Up to two of these awards are given annually at the Summer Meeting of the Association.

List of Recipients

2007
Richard Jerrard, Joel Schneider, Ralph Smallberg, and John Wetzel for "Straw in a Box"The College Mathematics Journal, v. 37, March 2006, pp. 93-102

Allen Schwenk for "Distortion of Average Class Size: The Lake Wobegon Effect" The College Mathematics Journal v. 37, September 2006, pp. 293-296.

2006
Ezra Brown for "Phoebe Floats!"The College Mathematics Journal, March 2005, pp. 114-122.

James Sandefur for "A Geometric Series from Tennis" The College Mathematics Journal May 2005, pp. 224-226.

2005
Brian Hopkins and Robin J. Wilson, “The Truth About Königsberg,” The College Mathematics Journal, May 2004, p. 198.
Stephen M. Walk, “Mind Your ∃s and ∀s,” The College Mathematics Journal, November 2004, p. 362.

2004
Greg N. Frederickson “A New Wrinkle on an Old Folding Problem,” College Mathematics Journal September, 2003, vol. 34(4) pp. 258-263.

2003
David L. Finn, "Can a Bicycle Create a Unicycle Track?," College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 33 (2002), pp. 283-292.
Dan Kalman, "An Undetermined Linear System for GPS," College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 33 (2002), pp. 384-390.

2002
Timothy G. Feeman "Conformality, the Exponential Function, and World Map Projections" College Mathematics Journal,Vol. 32, November 2001, pp. 334-342

2001
Ezra A. Brown, "Three Fermat Trails to Elliptic Curves," College Mathematics Journal, 31, No. 3, (2000), 162-172).
Chip Ross and Jody M. Sorensen, "Will the Real Bifurcation Diagram Please Stand Up!" College Mathematics Journal, 31, No.1, (2000), 2-14.

2000
Ezra Brown, Square roots from 1;24,51,10 to Dan Shanks, Coll. Math. J. 30 (1999), 82-95.
Martin Gardner, The asymmetric propeller, Coll. Math. J. 30 (1999), 18-22.

1999
Aaron Klebanoff and John Rickert, Studying the Cantor Dust at the Edge of the Feigenbaum Diagrams, Taco, Coll. Math. J. 29 (1998),189-198.
David Bleecker and Lawrence J. Wallen, The World's Biggest Taco, Coll. Math. J. 29 (1998), 2-17.

1998
Kevin G. Kirby, Of Memories, Neurons, and Rank-One Corrections, Coll. Math. J. 28 (1997), 2-19.
Aimee Johson and Kathleen Madden, Putting the Pieces Together: Understanding Robinson's Nonperiodic Tilings, Coll. Math. J. 28 (1998), 172-181.

1997
Chris Christensen, Newton's Method for Ressolving Affected Equations, Coll. Math. J.27 (1996), 330-340.
Leon Harkleroad, How Mathematicians Know What Computers Can't Do, Coll. Math. J.27 (1996), 37-42.

1996
John H. Ewing, Can We See the Mandelbrot Set?, Coll. Math. J.26 (1995), 90-99.
James G. Simmonds, A New Look at an Old Function, e, Coll. Math. J.26 (1995), 6-10.

1995
Anthony P. Ferzola, Euler and Differentials, Coll. Math. J. 25 (1994), 102-111.
Paulo Ribenboim, Prime Number Records, Coll. Math. J. 25 (1994), 280-290.

1994
Charles W. Groetsch, Inverse Problems and Torricelli's Law, Coll. Math. J. 24 (1993), 210-217.
Dan Kalman, Six Ways to Sum a Series, Coll. Math. J. 24 (1993), 402-421.

1993
L. H. Lange and J. W. Miller, A Random Ladder Game: Permutations, Eigenvalues, and Convergence of Markov Chains, Coll. Math. J., 23 (1992), 373-385.
D. N. MacKenzie, Triquetras and Porisms, Coll. Math. J. 23 (1992), 118-131.

1992
William Dunham, Euler and the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, Coll. Math. J. 22 (1991), 282-293.
Howard Eves, Two Surprising Theorems on Cavalieri Congruence, 22 (1991), 118-124.

1991
William B. Gearhart and Harris S. Shultz, The Function Sin x/x, Coll. Math. J. 21 (1990), 90-99.
Mark F. Schilling, The Longest Run of Heads, Coll. Math. J. 21 (1990), 196-207.

1990
Israel Kleiner, Evolution of the Function Concept: A Brief Survey, Coll. Math. J. 20 (1989), 282-300.
D. Neidinger, Automatic Differentiation & APL, Coll. Math. J. 20 (1989), 238-251.

1989
Beverly L. Brechner and John C. Mayer, Antoine's Necklace - or How to Keep a Necklace from Falling Apart, Coll. Math. J. 19 (1988), 306-320.
Edward Rozema, Why Should We Pivot in Gaussian Elimination?, Coll. Math. J. 19 (1988), 63-72.

1988
Dennis M. Luciano and Gordon D. Pritchett, Cryptology: From Caesar Ciphers to Public-Key Cryptosystems, Coll. Math. J. 18 (1987), 2-17.
V. Frederick Rickey, Isaac Newton: Man, Myth, and Mathematics, Coll. Math. J. 18, (1987), 362-389.

1987
Irl C. Bivens, What a Tangent Line Is When It Isn't a Limit, Coll. Math. J. 17 (1986), 133-143.
Constance Reid, The Autobiography of Julia Robinson, Coll. Math. J. 17 (1986), 2-21.

1986
Philip J. Davis, What Do I Know? A Study of Mathematical Self-Awareness, Coll. Math. J. 16 (1985), 22-41.

1985
Anthony Barcellos, The Fractal Geometry of Mandelbrot,Coll. Math. J. 15 (1984), 98-114.
Kay Dundas, To Build a Better Box, Coll. Math. J. 15 (1984), 30-36.

1984
Ruma Falk and Maya Bar-Hillel, Probabilistic Dependence Between Events, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 14 (1983), 240-247.
Richard J. Trudeau, How Big is a Point?, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 14 (1983), 295-300.

1983
Paul R. Halmos, The Thrills of Abstraction, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 13 (1982), 243-251.
Douglas R. Hofstadter, Analogies and Metaphors to Explain Gó's Theorem,Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 13 (1982), 98-114.
Warren Page and V.N. Murty, Nearness Relations Among Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion, Part 1, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 13 (1982), 315-327.

1982
John A. Mitchem, On the History and Solution of the Four-Color Map Problem, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 12 (1981), 108-116.
Peter L. Renz, Mathematical Proof: What It Is and What It Ought to Be, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 12 (1981), 83-103.

1981
Gulbank D. Chakerian, Circles and Spheres, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 11 (1980), 26-41.
Robert G. Dean, Ennis D. McCune, and William D. Clark, Calculators to Motivate Infinite Composition of Functions, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 11 (1980), 189-195.

1980
Robert Nelson, Pictures, Probability, and Paradox, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 10 (1979), 182-190.
Hugh F. Ouellette and Gordon Bennett, The Discovery of a Generalization: An Example in Problem Solving, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 10 (1979), 100-106.

1979
Richard L. Francis, A Note on Angle Construction, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 9 (1978), 75-80.
Richard Plagge, Fraction without Quotients: Arithmetic of Repeating Decimals, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 9 (1978), 11-15.

1978
Allen H. Holmes, Walter Sanders, and John W. LeDuc, Statistical Inference for the General Education Student -- It Can Be Done, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 8 (1977), 223-230.
Freida Zames, Surface Area and the Cylinder Area Paradox, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 8 (1977), 207-211.

1977
Anneli Lax, Linear Algebra, A Potent Tool, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 7 (1976), 3-15.
Julian Weissglass, Small Groups: An Alternative to the Lecture Method, Two-Year Coll. Math. J. 7 (1976), 15-20.