Free speech essay contest for juniors and seniors

The call is out to all high school juniors and seniors. The City Club of Cleveland is presenting The Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Contest, a special opportunity for upper-grade students to shine, and to win generous cash prizes.

The Adelsteins, lifelong residents of Northeast Ohio, are philanthropists and longtime members of The City Club. Stanley joined The City Club in 1941 and served as president of its board of directors. Hope, a retired nurse, joins her husband in their support of free speech, justice and the environmental issues.

The Free Speech Essay Contest gives students an opportunity to explore the complexities of our constitutional right to free speech while building essential writing and critical thinking skills. The contest is open to all juniors and seniors in public, private, parochial, charter and home schools in Cuyahoga and the surrounding counties.

Essays can address the topic “What is the value of free speech in a democratic society?” in any way that exhibits an understanding of the theme. Essays will be judged on clarity of thought, quality of content, originality, and significance of the ideas expressed, and should be no more than 300 words. A panel of judges, selected from The City Club membership and the community, will select the winning essays.

More than 20 prizes will be awarded. The first three prizes are $1,000, $750 and $500, respectively. The next 17 winners will each receive $100.

The top three winners will read their essays at a City Club Forum to be broadcast on radio, television, YouTube and The City Club website. The 20 finalists and their guests will be invited to attend a special luncheon and will receive a one-year membership to The City Club and a certificate of recognition.

The deadline for submitting an essay is March 14. All entries must include entrant’s name, age, home address and telephone number, and e-mail address. Entries should include a cover letter, signed by the entrant, that states the following: “This is my original document and does not include any previous composition by another." 

Entries should be sent to Free Speech Competition, 850 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, 44114. Winners will be notified by April 15.

For more information, contact Arin Miller-Tait at 216-621-0082 or FreeSpeech@cityclub.org.

Jewel Moulthrop

Jewel Moulthrop is a Cleveland Heights resident, a member of the Heights Observer's Editorial Advisory Committee and frequent contributor to the newspaper.

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Volume 7, Issue 1, Posted 1:19 PM, 01.02.2014