The Washington Association of Black Journalists  awards a one-time scholarship to a college-bound senior in each of the print, television and radio sections of the Urban Journalism Workshop expecting to pursue a career in journalism.

Through a partnership with The Washington Post, the essay contest winner for the print section receives a $2,500 award while winners in the television and radio sections will each receive a $1,000 award.

Students select one of two essay questions; and attendance, quiz scores and participation in class are also evaluated.

Question #1: The Congress passed, and President Barack Obama signed, the most sweeping health-care legislation in the history of the United States. Still, fringe groups such as the Tea Party are outraged that the legislation went through. Many of the protesters have called members of Congress vile names and even vandalized some of their offices in their home districts. The members of Congress have consulted with the FBI about extra protection. Freedom of speech and protest are protected by the Constitution. Write a 500-word essay that examines: Are the protesters going too far? Or are they within their rights to protest so vehemently?

Question #2: Recently, celebrities from golf superstar Tiger Woods to Oscar winner Sandra Bullock have had very public troubles in their personal lives. Members of the press have followed them, staked out their homes and deluged their representatives with calls to get more information. Write a 500 word essay that examines: How deep into a public figure’s personal life should the media be allowed to dig? What should be public and what should be private?

Urban Journalism Workshop 2010 Essay Contest Instructions

 You must:

• Type your essay, double-spaced, on one side of white 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper.
• Answer the essay contest question in a well-organized, well-reasoned essay of 500 words (only count the body of the essay).
• Include standardized citations and a bibliography. These are not included in the word count. Further, the World Wide Web should not be the only source for your essay. Be aware that you may encounter “republished” or “third generation” information on the Internet that is inaccurate or improperly attributed. The use of books, magazines, and newspapers are widely encouraged.
• Address all parts of the essay contest topic.
• Number the pages of your essay. 

Your essay will be judged based on the following criteria:

• Focus: An excellent essay provides specific and thorough responses to all of the questions and/or tasks presented.
• Organization: An excellent essay has an introduction, a body and a conclusion. The organization includes an excellent thesis and moves the reader through the text.
• Analysis: In an excellent essay, all of the arguments are strong, well detailed and extremely well supported by convincing and accurate evidence.
• Conclusions and Recommendations: An excellent essay provides a coherent and comprehensive summary based on the analysis. All of the solutions to the problems presented are specific and well thought out.
• Style and Mechanics: An excellent essay uses standard writing conventions correctly, e.g. grammar, spelling, and punctuation, with no errors.

 Your essay may be disqualified if:

• It is not on the topic.
• Documents are not complete or contain incorrect information
• It plagiarizes—that is, uses someone else’s statements or ideas as your own.

Urban Journalism Workshop 2010 Essay Contest Guidelines

An essay is a three-part paper that presents and develops a position in response to the essay contest question. Although researching the topic to find examples that support your points is crucial to writing your essay, it should be more than a research paper, a narrative description of an event, or a statement of opinion.

 Your essay should contain the following:

• An introduction, which introduces the subject and contains an explanation of your position. The objective is to demonstrate that you understand the essay contest question and have formed a response to it.
• A body, which develops your argument using research and analysis. The process of analysis may include comparing and contrasting, differentiating among several ideas or events, critiquing a variety of perspectives, interpreting results, or drawing inferences. For example, in this section you could analyze at least two case studies. Be sure to identify the sources of your information or ideas.
• A conclusion, which summarizes the research and analysis presented in the essay and sets forth your conclusions. Drawing on ideas already presented, you should demonstrate that your conclusions support the position you put forward in the opening paragraphs. Your aim is to convince the reader that your position is reasonable and valid.

 Your essay should also include notes and a bibliography:

• Reference notes (footnotes or endnotes) give the sources of your information or ideas. Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page where the information appears. Alternatively, you may gather all the notes at the end of the text as endnotes.
• A bibliography is a list of the works that you have referred to in your essay or have consulted in order to write it. Typically an entry will have at least the name of the author or editor, title of the work, and date and place of publication. The bibliography should be arranged alphabetically by the last names of the authors.
• Encyclopedias are not acceptable as sources.