The History of the Eye On History Essay Contests
This Columnist has introduced Essay Contests for the past 25 years. The contests in this article represent just a partial list of many contests that I have sponsored for both youth and adults.
These contests give people an opportunity to express their opinions on a wide variety of issues. When I first began to introduce them to the community, the goal was to include our youth in grades 4-12 and a few times at the Kindergarten through first and second grade level. I did this for a number of years. I have introduced more than 150 essay contests. While teaching in the public schools for 30 years I made them part of my Language Arts program. Some of them were mandatory and students had to work for a grade in English. The two that were mandatory included the annual Dr. Carter G. Woodson essay contest and the annual Councilmember for a Day Contest. I had winners in each of these contests. Every year there were several students to win in each category. I also introduced the Marcus Garvey essay contest. Students had to do research on the life of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey and write an essay describing his achievements. I found that writing was one way to get them involved in learning more about African American History. Several of the students were also on my radio and television program reading their essays on the public access television channel.
The following are several of the essay contests from past years. This list will give my readers some idea of the topics covered. This is just a partial list:
Councilmember for a Day, 1996. In this contest the students had to imagine that they were Councilmember for a Day and give ideas on how they would improve their community. The winners actually sat in the seat of their Councilmember at City Hall for part of the morning. This contest was sponsored by the Buffalo Common Council and the Buffalo Board of Education.
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. essay contest for students in grades 4-12 was held in 2013. There were several additional contests on the topic of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. over the years.
Mother’s Day essay contest held in 2013 and several additional years for students. The theme was: The Best Mom in the USA. Students had to give reasons why they selected their mom for this honor.
The Earth Day Essay and Poster contest was held for several years during the month of April for students in grades 4-12.
The Builders of the Community essay contest was held in 2014. In this contest students had to describe how they would create buildings to replace the empty lots in the city of Buffalo.
The Filmmaker essay contest, 2015. Students had to describe a film that they would like to make in Buffalo. I came up with this idea because Buffalo has become a place where filmmakers come to make movies.
The Holiday essay contest. I introduced this one several times both for youth and adults. Participants had to describe their favorite holiday and for the adults they had to describe their favorite toy that they received at Christmas as a child. I also introduced the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaking Contest several times for students and adults. Participants had to memorize and recite one of Dr. King’s speeches.
These are just a few of my past essay contests. I have more coming in the future. Many people look forward to them and the topics presented. The $50 Million Dollar essay contest asked participants to tell how they would spend this amount of money on the East Side of Buffalo. Watch for the essay contests to continue in 2024!!