Awards

2004 Awards Week in D.C. Past Awards Week Programs 2003 Awards Week Program 2002 Awards Week Program 2001 Awards Week Program More...

What Do Essay Contest Winners Receive?

Contest winners earn money for their college or university studies. For the 2004–2005 contest, first-place state winners will receive college scholarships of $1,000. First-place state winners will also compete for national awards of $10,000, $5,000, and $2,500 for first, second, and third place respectively (national awards include state award amounts). All first-place state winners are invited to attend an all-expense-paid awards program in Washington, D.C. in June 2005.

What Do Students Do In Washington?

First-place state winners in the National Peace Essay Contest are invited to Washington for the awards program. This unique five-day program promotes an understanding of the nature and process of international peacemaking by focusing on a region and/or theme related to the current essay topic.

Over a period of three days, students take part in a simulation exercise in which they assume roles of national and international leaders, examine issues, address crises, and then formulate and propose solutions. In addition to such academically oriented events, program activities have included:

• meeting with such leaders as former vice president Al Gore; Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Trent Lott (R-MS), Charles Hagel (R-NE), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Representatives Ralph Regula (R-OH) and Nita Lowey (D-NY); Ambassadors Var Huoth of Cambodia, Kun Woo Park of Korea, Jean Casimir of Haiti, and John Leigh of Sierra Leone; and Supreme Court Justice Byron White.



• participating in briefings by officials at the embassies of Ireland, Israel, Sri Lanka, Korea, the United Kingdom, Kenya, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Colombia, and Sierra Leone.



• visiting historical and cultural sites, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Korean War Memorial, FDR Memorial, Capitol, Supreme Court, and Smithsonian museums.



• attending musicals or plays and sampling international cuisines from some of Washington's most interesting ethnic restaurants.