 Divan Cultural Center would like to invite your students to participate in our Annual Essay contest. The contest aims to promote awareness, understanding, and positive interaction among different cultures and communities. Subject If you could make one change in the world to establish world peace, what would you do? One may think of the following questions · How can we plant seeds of love around the world? · How can we emphasize the things that people have in common? · How can differences among cultures be used to promote peace? · What are the advantages of cultural differences? · What changes would take place in your life if you had a friend from another part of the world? · What efforts are currently being made toward achieving world peace? What other efforts are needed? · What fears have you experienced toward those people who are not like you? How do you address this? · What difference does it make to you, your community, our country or our world if you take the time to know who your neighbors are? · What is the importance of education in helping to establish bridges among people? · How can new technological advances be used to get to know and understand others? · What is the effect of solidarity on bridging differences among people? Awards 1st Place: $500 Gift Card 2nd Place: $300 Gift Card 3rd Place: $200 Gift Card 5 Honorable Mentions: $50 Gift Card There will also be special gifts for sponsoring teachers. Award ceremony will take place together with 5th Annual Dialogue Dinner which will be held on November 12, 2009 at Sheraton Imperial Hotel, Durham NC. Rules # Only high school students (grades 9th through 12th) can participate in the contest. # Essays must be original, unpublished, and written by one person. # Each essay should be no more than 1000 words. # Each submission must include: - Name - Grade - School - Sponsoring Teacher's Name # Entries must be received no later than October 23, 2009. # Participants consent to transfer copyrights of their essays to Divan Cultural Center. # Each essay must be emailed to contest@divannc.org as MS Word (.doc) file attachment. Submission format should be 12 point Times New Roman font and 1.5 line space. # Essays should have a cover page which can be downloaded from here Judging In each category, essays will be judged on both style and content. Judges will evaluate essays based on clarity, articulation, and organization.. Submitted essays will be judged by a committee led by professors from universities: Dr. Chris Anson, North Carolina State University, English Department Dr. Elise Barrett, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Education Dr. Horacio Xaubet, North Carolina Central University, Department of Modern Foreign Languages Dr. Marge Terhaar-Yonkers, Meredith College, Department of Education Dr. Michael Vasu, North Carolina State University, School of Public and International Affairs We would like to thank members of our advisory board, for their support and contributions. Prize Winners 1st Place: Sarah Perry 2nd Place: Patrick Harvey 3rd Place: Dennis Fogleman Honorable Mensions: Tara Selin Spencer Kaitlyn Good Caleb Carter Joshua Brickey Ryan Land |