Tuesday, April 30, 2019
2019 Free Speech Essay Contest Winners
Thank you to all the students who entered the 2019 Hope and Stanley Adelstein Essay Contest! We are excited to announce this year’s winners for the following prompt:
Throughout 2018, there have been many conflicts surrounding free speech. From college campuses to the White House and with an increasingly polarized environment, both on and offline, people disagree about how free speech should be utilized and protected in their daily lives. These disagreements about free speech seem to have widened the rift between the left and right and to have made compromise on important issues difficult to reach. In such trying times, we often question whose voice has a right to be heard. What are the biggest threats to freedom of speech? What should be done to protect this core value of American Democracy?
9/10th Grade
1st place: Maxine Gilligan, Hathaway Brown School
2nd place: The Power of Free Speech in Self-Governance, Jessica Chang, Hathaway Brown School
3rd place: The Truth About Free Speech: How to Protect and Utilize This Core Value of American Democracy , Elise Donikowski, Andrews Osborne Academy
Honorable Mentions:
How Censorship Has Infiltrated Our Minds, Kyla Chercourt, Mayfield High School
The Digital Threats on Freedom of Speech, Landon Polack, Mayfield High School
Everyone, Cynthia Onyiorah, Solon High School
11/12th Grade
1st Place: The Freedom of the Spoken Word, Ryan Brady, Hathaway Brown School
2nd Place: Voltaire and Hall Were Right: Why Liberty Trumps Political Parties, Anya Razmi, Hathaway Brown School
3rd place: From Polarization to Progress: Free Speech as the Core of Democracy, Emma Poole, Lutheran West High School
Honorable Mention:
#Polarized Views Pose the Greatest Threat to America's Greatest Value, Emma Hubbard, Cleveland Heights High School
Commit to Comprehensive Conversation, Kathryn Zoller, Saint Joseph Academy
Don't Let Our Students be Silenced, David Jordan, Hudson High School
Free Speech: The Means to an End that Ensures its Own Self-Destruction, Craig Wilson, Gilmour Academy
View the First Place essays here: 9/10th Grade 11/12th Grade
The Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Contest is sponsored by 
