2017 David & Irene Cole Essay Contest

Essay Topic:

“How I will perpetuate my Jewish knowledge and practice as a college freshman, and why.”

Eligibility:

Greater Columbus area Jewish teens who will be graduating from an accredited area high school inSpring 2017.

Essay Requirements/Guidelines:

  1. Must be at least 900 words and not more than 1,200 words.
  2. May be a revision of a paper you initially wrote for another purpose.
  3. Will be graded on four equally weighted criteria:
  1. Focus, thesis, organization.
  2. Content, development, support;
  3. Expression (wording and phrasing); and,
  4. Sentence skills, grammar and punctuation.

Application and Deadline:

The 2017 Cole Essay Contest will accept completed on-line applications and essays through1:00 p.m. on Friday, April 21, 2017. Early submissions are encouraged. Information about the 2017 contest can be accessed on the Foundation’s website the application can be directly accessed here:

Awards:

All essayists will be recognized at the Jewish Experience for Teens (JET) Teen Awards ceremony on Wednesday, May17th;the prizewinners will be announced as well. The prizes for the top three spots are:

First Place$1,000

Second Place $ 500

Third Place $ 250

All essays will be maintained at the offices of the Columbus Jewish Foundation. The first place essay will be re-printed in The Ohio Jewish Chronicle and will appear in Foundation publications including the Foundation website

What to Write:

The essay is your story – not what you think your parents or teachers want to see, and not what you think the Essay Committee expects to see.

The question is twofold: How and Why:

How?Maybe you really do plan to be active in your campus’ Hillel or Chabad. But maybe your plan is to focus on the Jewish holidays. Perhaps your interest is advocacy, Jewish cooking, or Yiddish. You might wear your Jewish identity for all to see – covering your head, keeping kosher, observing Shabbat, fasting on Yom Kippur, refraining from hametz during Pesach. And maybe your Jewish identity is between you and G-d. It is your Jewish identity.

Taking a gap year? Write your essay based on what you plan to do when you are in college, and not while you are on a gap year. If you plan to study at a yeshiva in Israel for a year or do an internship before enrolling in college, this is not your college experience. You will need to fast forward 16 months, not twelve.

Why? Were there few Jewish students in your school? Was Jewish summer camp the best time in your life? Are you interested in your heritage? Did the story of a Holocaust Survivor stir something deep inside of you? Is expressing your Jewish identity something you have always done and it defines you? Will going away to college present you with the opportunity to explore other expressions of Judaism? It is your Jewish identity.

Recommendations from the Essay Committee:

  1. Your audience is the entire Jewish community and the Essay Committee (the individuals who read the essays and collectively select the winners) reflects the community and cuts across all denominations.
  2. If you are incorporating Hebrew into your essay, it helps to include the English translation.
  3. Think seriously before using language others will find offensive.
  4. Spell check is not grammar check. And grammar check is not spell check. Write and proofread your essay as though it will appear on the front page of The New York Times.

T:\Foundation Files\Grants\Special Purpose Funds\Cole\Guidelines.docx

Cole Essay Contest GuidelinesPage 1