ESSAY TOPIC: How could relationships among international communities be useful in responding to global crises?
INSPIRATION FOR TOPIC:
2020 was an incredibly tough year! And that’s probably an understatement. Not only was the United States impacted, but the entire world was faced with unprecedented challenges by the worst pandemic of our lifetime. We, in the Albany-Tula Alliance Education Committee thought long and hard about the kind of contest we should have, staying mindful of the hardships students already confronted int he past academic year. We decided to expand the essay into a “multimedia contest” to allow students the opportunity to express themselves on a broader level, a level that might open the door to originality, creativity, and insight. We hope this new contest allows students the freedom to expand on the topic with whatever field of vision they feel most comfortable with.
PRIZES:
IMPORTANT NOTE: All judging will be blind to personal information such as name, school, age, etc. Please include such information on your cover sheet but not on the pages that contain the text of your essay. As with all such competitions, essays should be in their final, proofread form. They should be strong in grammar, thesis, support, and reasoning. Essays will be adjudicated by a panel of high school teachers, college professors, and professional writers based on an extensive rubric.
PRIZES: In addition to prize money, winning essays will enhance your college resume!
HOW THE WINNER IS CHOSEN:
ATA board members and local college professors will review essays based on a grading rubric of thesis, organization, paragraphs, style, and grammar. Three winners will be chosen and announced at an AWARDS RECEPTION at the elegant Fort Orange Club. All students who submit an essay are invited to attend this “friendraiser” with their parents, siblings, supervising teacher, guidance counselors and/or librarians. There will be evening snacks and refreshments served. The press will be invited to report on the story. Local dignitaries will be on hand to celebrate with the participants and their families.
DIRECTIONS:
Using a well-constructed essay, other literary form, or another medium altogether (work of art, video, music), reflect on your own experiences, historical collaborations and/or ideas about the future your generation will be creating.
Possible ideas include:
– Building bridges across communities, towns, cultures
– Global Crisis: Sharing lessons learned/ideas personally exchanged
– Cross-cultural research projects
– Digital cultural exchange, connections
– Lessons learned from online/distance learning
– From the digital classroom to digital diplomacy
– Dramas shared and resolved by a global community (e.g., Thai cave rescue)
– Benefits of foreign relatives, friends and exchange students in these times
MULTIMEDIA GUIDELINES:
Literary Compositions can include an essay, fiction, news story, diary, interview, journal, letter exchange, poetry, podcasts, etc. Please upload digital file per guidelines below.
Art Compositions can include a painting, graphic, decorative piece, sculpture, mixed media, photograph in B&W or color, collage, cartoon, etc. Please take a high resolution digital photo or video of your entry and upload per guidelines below.
Music Compositions can include an original composition, performance, music video, song, instrumental recital, etc. Please keep entries under three minutes and upload digital file per guidelines below.
Videos can include a theatrical performance, digital video, documentary, etc. Please keep entries under three minutes and keep files under 20MB in size.
NOTE: No copyrighted material allowed.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All judging will be blind to personal information such as name, school, age, etc. As with all such competitions, entries should be in their final, proofread form. All submissions will be adjudicated by a panel consisting of a professional writer, artist, musicians and videographer based on:
– Originality
– Creativity
– Strength of Focus or Point of View
– Effectiveness of Submission
– Connection to Contest Topic
– Emotional/Intellectual Component of the Work
– Evidence of Thought/Effort
TIMELINE:
- Registration deadline for students: March 1, 2021
- Contest submission deadline for students: March 1, 2021
- Announce winners: April 1, 2021
UPLOAD GUIDELINES:
You will need to fill out a Registration Form that includes consent & release considerations prior to submitting your work.
If you need to contact us with questions, please email: ContestQuestions@albanytula.org
When you’re absolutely certain that your paper is perfect submit both the form and submission HERE.
Thank you!
BACKGROUND:
The Albany-Tula Alliance was formed in 1991 to encourage cultural, educational and business exchanges between the greater Capital Region of New York and our sister city of Tula, Russia. Throughout the past quarter century, there have been many exchanges, each one helping everyone involved to better understand people from the other country. Unfortunately, government relations between our two countries are currently strained. Nonetheless, friends of the Alliance on both sides continue to work together as citizen diplomats. Our efforts may over time help to improve our governments’ relationship. With this in mind, the Albany-Tula Alliance is offering an Essay Contest for interested Capital Region students.