High school students in four cities have spent the winter putting the finishing touches on their original book entries for the B’nai B’rith International Diverse Minds Youth Writing Challenge. They will soon learn who won the top prizes: $5,000 college scholarships for each city’s top winner and the professional publication of the top books.
The contest challenges teens to write and illustrate children’s books that explain diversity and tolerance to elementary school-aged children. In a contest first, the winning book in San Antonio will be published in both English and Spanish. Winners in San Antonio will be announced in late May. Winners in contest cities
Memphis, New York, and Los Angeles will be announced in early June. The contest is now in its fourth year.
This education and awareness initiative was created in conjunction with B’nai B’rith programs that promote tolerance and communicate a message of equality. The contest aims to enlighten, inspire, and educate America's young people and their families in an effort to destroy prejudices and strengthen the future of our youth.
In addition to the $5,000 college scholarships, winning entries in each city will have their submission professionally published and distributed to libraries and elementary schools in their hometown. The second place winners receive $2,000 scholarships, and the third place winners earn a $1,000 scholarship. In addition, teachers who oversaw the creation of the first place submission in each city will receive a $500 stipend to use for classroom or organizational materials, and the winners’ schools will each win a $500 grant. A local panel of judges in each city from the worlds of education, the arts, business, and government reviewed the submissions and selected the winners.
Additional program information can be found at www.bnaibrith.org/diverseminds.
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