The City Club of Cleveland announces The Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Competition

The call is out to all CH-UH high school juniors and seniors, and to their parents and teachers. The City Club of Cleveland is presenting the Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Contest, a special opportunity for upper-grade students and their teachers to shine, and to win generous cash prizes.

The Adelsteins, lifelong residents of Northeast Ohio, are philanthropists and longtime members of The City Club. Stanley joined The City Club in 1941 and served as president of its board of directors. Hope, a retired nurse, joins her husband in their support of free speech, justice and the environmental issues.

The Free Speech Essay contest gives students an opportunity to explore the complexities of our constitutional right to free speech while building essential writing and critical-thinking skills. The contest is open to all juniors and seniors in public, private, parochial, charter and home schools in Cuyahoga and the surrounding counties.

Essays can address the topic “What is the value of free speech in a democratic society?” in any way that exhibits an understanding of the theme. Essays will be judged on clarity of thought, quality of content, originality, and significance of the ideas expressed, and should no longer than 300 words. A panel of judges will be selected from The City Club membership and the community.

More than 20 prizes will be awarded. The first three prizes are $1,000, $750 and $500, respectively, with each of the teachers of top winners receiving $250. The subsequent 17 winners will each receive $100.

The top three winners will read their essays at a City Club Forum, to be broadcast on radio, television, YouTube and The City Club website. The 20 finalists and their guests will be invited to attend a special luncheon and will receive a one-year membership to The City Club and a certificate of recognition.

Teachers who wish to participate in the essay contest should send an e-mail to FreeSpeech@cityclub.org. Teachers will receive reproducible classroom and supplemental resource materials and are invited to attend an open house on Dec. 4. Teachers must sign up by Dec. 1 in order to attend the open house.

Students may also submit essays on their own. The deadline for submitting an essay is March 14. All entries must include entrant’s name, age, home address and telephone number, and e-mail address. Entries should be sent to Free Speech Competition, 850 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44114.

For more information, contact Arin Miller-Tait at 216-621-0082 or by e-mail at FreeSpeech@cityclub.org.

Jewel Moulthrop

Jewel Moulthrop is a Cleveland Heights resident, a member of the FutureHeights Board of Directors, and chair of the Heights Observer's Editorial Advisory Committee.

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Volume 7, Issue 1, Posted 10:57 AM, 11.19.2013