ANNUAL ESSAY CONTEST

2011-2012

Theme: “The Beauty of Cultural Diversity”   

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012

Raindrop Turkish House organizes Annual Essay Contest for Middle and High School Students in Oklahoma.  

Program Objective:  To have children in middle and high schools think about and be involved in contributing to solving social problems and/or issues in our world today such as intercultural and interfaith understanding, respect towards others, etc.  We want our future leaders to be aware of social problems at an early age and to think globally. The program is geared towards an interdisciplinary approach to solving world and community issues in that the theme of the program looks towards global peace and intercultural understanding.  International education is promoted via this program. 

Program Participants:  The State of OKLAHOMA   6 through 12 grade students.

Program Focus:  To recognize and create ways for young people to think about helping their community locally and to think globally in order to create more opportunities for the beauty of Cultural Diversity, i.e. intercultural understanding and respect.

Program Theme for 2011-2012: “The Beauty of Cultural Diversity”

Middle and high-school students are invited to submit an essay work on the theme of "The Beauty of Cultural Diversity."  Its purpose is to establish relations and facilitate cross-cultural and interfaith dialogue, understanding, reconciliation and cooperation and, in the process, to help counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism.

 Students may reflect on the following questions as a starting point for their own work:

• How can I as a person or we as a society improve understanding and cooperation among different nations and cultures?
• What specific steps can I take as an American to build respect and trust among civilizations of the world, seeing as how most Americans are inherently immigrants from different cultures themselves?
• What should the media industry be doing to amplify voices of concern, voices of moderation and voices of reconciliation?
• What are some ways that government, society, the media, or an individual can work to calm cultural and religious tensions among nations and peoples?
• How can the media enhance and highlight initiatives devoted to building bridges for peace?
• What can be done by the citizens of the world to reduce polarization among conflicting nations and promote mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships?

 ESSAY CONTEST RULES

• Contest is open to 6^th-12^th grade students currently attending the Middle Schools and High schools in Oklahoma.
• Essays must be original, unpublished, and written entirely by contestants.
• The essays submitted should not be research papers, but instead, should contain each student’s original thoughts on the topic.
• Each essay should be no more than 1000 words in length and should be typed, double-spaced and prepared in an electronic format using a word processing application.
• Essays should not contain the student’s or school’s name, but instead should include a separate Submission Cover Sheet (see attached). An identification number will be assigned for each essay to ensure anonymity during scoring. Essay entries must be received no later than 4:00 PM on THURSDAY, MARCH 22nd, 2012. Winners will be announced by Wednesday, April 11, 2012.
• An awards reception and ceremony will be held at Raindrop Turkish House. The date of the event will be announced.
• Participants consent to transfer copyrights of their essays to Raindrop Turkish House.
• Sponsoring teacher may log on to Raindrop Turkish House website at www.turkishhouse.org/oklahomacity and must submit the entry through the website along with Submission Cover Sheet and Media Release Form as either Microsoft Word (.doc) file or Adobe Reader (.pdf) file attachment.

JUDGING

All essay submissions will be judged by a committee led by professors from local universities. Please see Attachment 1 for Essay Contest Rubric.

AWARDS (STUDENTS)

                                          High School

             Grand Award                                        : $300 monetary award        

     Golden Awards (2 winners)                    : $200 monetary award

      Silver Awards(2 winners)                       : $150 monetary  award

    Honorable Mention Awards (8 winners)   : $50 monetary award

                                        Middle School

            Grand Award                                          : $200 monetary award        

     Golden Awards (2 winners)                      : $150 monetary award

    Silver Awards(2 winners)                         : $100 monetary award

    Honorable Mention Awards (8 winners)      : $40 monetary award

AWARDS (TEACHERS)

MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL CATEGORY

  For High School

        Grand Award                           : $200 monetary award        

 Golden Awards (2 winners)       : $150 monetary award

 Silver Awards(2 winners)          : $100 monetary award
 

     For Middle School  

        Grand Award                            : $150 monetary award       

  Golden Awards (2 winners)        : $100 monetary award

Silver Awards(2 winners)           : $75 monetary award
 

HOW TO CONTACT US

Mr. H. Tunbak

Raindrop Turkish House
4444 N. Classen Blvd, Oklahoma City, OK

Phone: 405- 702 0222

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Web: www.turkishhouse.org

JUDGING
All essay submissions will be judged by a committee led by professors from local universities. Please click Essay Contest Rubric to see the judging criteria .
How to submit the essay?
Please fill out the form below.
Click Here