wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Student essayists to vie for $100,000

[Deeanna Alford <dalford@CTR.PCUSA.ORG>]

04243
May 21, 2004

Student essayists to vie for $100,000

Contest focus is 'common ground' between Christians, Jews

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE - Students 16 to 22 years old are invited to compete for
$100,000 in prize money in the first Reaching Common Ground essay contest
by writing about Christian-Jewish relations and the spiritual bonds between
the two faiths.

	The competition, funded by a 25-year-old Boston philanthropist
Elizabeth Goldhirsch, is co-sponsored by Baltimore's Institute for
Christian & Jewish Studies (ICJS). The program will award a $25,000 grand
prize, a runner-up prize of $10,000, 10 awards of $5,000, and 15 awards of
$1,000. Reaching Common Ground is the richest student writing contest in
the nation.

	Entries must be original essays addressing one of three theological
questions posed at the contest Web site, www.ReachingCommonGround.com. The
essays, which must be in English and no longer than 2,500 words, will be
evaluated by ICJS judges for original thinking, literary merit and
knowledge of the "common ground" shared by Christians and Jews. Winning
essays will be published on the Web; winning authors also will be eligible
for 12 ICJS fellowships to be awarded in 2005.

	The deadline for submissions is July 31. There is no entry fee.

	Goldhirsch hopes to make the contest an annual event and to expand
it to include other faiths. Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ,"
inspired her to fund the program with part of her inheritance.

	Goldhirsch has history and journalism degrees from the University
of Pennsylvania and Columbia University and is a theology student at
Harvard Divinity School. She also is a director of The Goldhirsch
Foundation, which funds medical research. Her late father, Bernie
Goldhirsch, created INC. magazine.

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