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2025 Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Contest 

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Every year since 2012, the City Club has used this essay contest to invite students to consider different aspects of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, specifically, Freedom of Speech. 

All high school students in Northeast Ohio are eligible to apply for scholarship prizes. Essays should pull from personal experience, current events, history, politics, art, or anything so long as they are backed up with evidence. Essays will be judged on their clarity, content alignment, originality, and organization/flow

The Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Contest was established with a generous gift to the City Club endowment from the Adelstein family. Additional annual support comes from George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation, Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, and Nordson.

The 2025 Hope and Stanley Adelstein Essay Contest has officially ended. Stay tuned for more information about next year's contest!

Help Us Shape the 2025-2026 Prompt

Do you have a compelling question or topic idea related to free speech that you believe students should be writing about? For the first time ever, we’re inviting YOU—students, teachers, past contest participants, and civically engaged individuals—to submit ideas for next year’s essay prompt!

Maybe there’s a conversation happening in your school. Maybe you’ve been wrestling with an idea around speech and digital platforms, protest culture, or book bans. We want to hear from you. - Submit your idea here!

Contest Eligibility and details:

  • All Northeast Ohio high school students are eligible to participate
  • There are two categories of judging – 9/10 grade and 11/12 grade
  • Essays MUST be 500-1,000 words
  • Please use 3 to 5 articles from reliable, valid sources in your essay.
  • Each entry is assigned a number. Essays are blind-scored by number only; no student or school names are identified. Do not include the student name or school name within the body of your essay. Failure to comply may result in disqualification.
  • All first-place winners of each category are invited to read their winning essays at the start of a City Club forum.
  • IMPORTANT REMINDER - Your essay and file name can NOT include any personal identifiers (ex: your name, school, teacher, etc.) 

Click here for the full scoring rubric

Awards:

11/12 Grade

  • First Place: $1,000
  • Second Place: $750
  • Third Place: $500
  • Honorable Mention: $250

9/10 Grade

  • First Place: $500
  • Second Place: $250
  • Third Place: $150
  • Honorable Mention: $100

You can view the winning essays from 2024 here: Grade 11/12 | Grade 9/10

For any questions regarding the Essay Contest, please contact Ariana Smith at arianasmith@cityclub.org

Vinay Bodapoti, 2017 Grade 11/12 Free Speech Essay Contest Winner

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