LWV Greenwich announced the winners of its third annual Essay Contest. The Essay Contest is one League initiative to involve young people in the League’s mission to build an understanding of and participation in the democratic process.
The winners of the LWV Greenwich Essay Contest 2022 are:
· Noah Kim, Junior, Greenwich High School, BEST OVERALL ESSAY
· Ben Fertig, Senior, Greenwich High School, BEST OPTION 1 ESSAY
· Siyuan Feng, Junior, Greenwich High School, BEST OPTION 2 ESSAY
· Kai Le, Junior, Brunswick School, BEST OPTION 3 ESSAY
Noah Kim, the Overall Winner, will receive a $1000 college scholarship. The best essay from each option will also be recognized and given an award at the LWV Greenwich Annual Dinner at the Riverside Yacht Club on Wednesday, June 1st at 5:30 pm. Their essays are posted on the LWV Greenwich website, www.lwvgreenwich.org/essaywinners22.
All 8th-12th graders who either live or attend school in Greenwich were eligible to enter the contest, which was publicized via email network of 2000+, through the local media, and by personal phone call to each middle school in Greenwich.
Students chose to write on one of three topics:
1. OPTION 1 The Words That Made Us Volume Two. How should Akhil Reed Amar open the second volume in his trilogy about our ongoing Constitutional conversation, The Words That Made Us Equal: 1840-1920?
2. OPTION 2 Voting Rights. What do we do next to strengthen voting rights and ensure free and fair elections?
3. OPTION 3 Elections Matter in Greenwich. Why do local elections matter in Greenwich?
Ten League volunteers – including many educators, current or past elected officials, and League Board members – judged the essays. To them, all essays were anonymous both by individual and by school. Every submitted essay was read by at least two judges. The top ten essays, by score, were read by four judges.
The grading rubric included not only an assessment of the essay’s organization but of the persuasiveness of the argument and of whether the author documented their research. The essays submitted by all winners were checked to ensure original work.
A nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, LWV Greenwich builds citizen participation in the democratic process, studies key community issues in an unbiased manner, and seeks positive solutions to public policy issues through education.
