Department Honors Two Students With Sankofa Prize

Students Mia McIlwain and Josiah Keys are the recipients of the 2025-2026 Columbia-Barnard Spirit of 1968 Sankofa Prize.

McIlwain CC’27 and Keys CC’26 were honored at the Administrators and Faculty Dinner of the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, held April 8 at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial Education Center in Washington Heights.

The Sankofa Prize recognizes an undergraduate student registered at any school of Columbia University / Barnard College who has made enduring contributions to promoting social justice for people of African descent through civic engagement, activism, and community building on campus and beyond. The prize was established by Columbia and Barnard alumni to celebrate students who had made lasting contributions to the struggle for social justice on campus and in Harlem during the 1968 student revolts and continued to work for community empowerment throughout their lives.

Mia McIlwain

McIlwain is a junior in Columbia College who has dedicated her time in service to her Columbia and Harlem communities. Since 2024, she has served as the political chair of the Black Student’s Organization. 

In this role she has also planned and hosted political meetings “Open X: A Discussion” and “Setting of the Tone” to keep Columbia’s Black community appraised of current events. She was the recruitment house leader of Columbia’s Black Mecca Special Interest Brownstone for the 2025-2026.

McIlwain is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Lambda Chapter and serves as the vice president of programming for Columbia’s Multi-Cultural Greek Council. Along with her many on campus activities, she volunteers time to Harlem Grown, an organization focused on providing fresh food to residents of the Harlem community through their farmstands.

Josiah Keys

Keys is a senior in Columbia College, studying African American and African Diaspora Studies. He is also a fellow in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship. His research examines the Black gay poetic tradition during the HIV/AIDS crisis and its interventions into normative humanist discourse. He currently serves as co-chair of the Eric Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights and as a student representative on the Columbia College Committee on Instruction. 

Josiah has also served in other leadership capacities, including as vice president of the Black Studies Organization, as a representative on the Queer & Trans Student Advisory Board, and as a student coordinator for the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

For his engagements and service to the Columbia community, Josiah has been awarded the Van Am Prize for Service, the Leadership & Excellence Emerging Leader Award, the Civic Engagement Award, and was recently selected as a Senior Marshal for his class. He presently acts as senior editorial assistant for the Black Studies Journal SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society and intends to matriculate to a PhD program in Black Studies and English, with the goal of eventually becoming a professor.