Literature Competition
Story of the Literature Contest
ESAi invited one hundred Ethiopian high schools to participate in a Literature Contest. Students were invited to choose from many topics that range from social and economic issues to politics, or choose their own topic. Three winners were to be selected from the entrants and be awarded a total of $1000 depending on their ranks.
We received entries from high schools in the different regions of the country over summer 2008. Judges selected from the ESAi membership have read each one and selected ten finalists. The next and final step is putting these finalists up for two rounds of public vote to select the three winners.
This project was initiated, funded and managed by members and friends of ESAi, most of who are young students. As such, we are very proud of it. And we would like to share this achievement with the global Ethiopian community.
Sharing our achievement, however, is not the only reason we are extending our invitation. We want to showcase the works of those students to the world. We believe that they have poured their hearts into sending us these entries and the least they deserve is to be heard.
Progression:
[url]http://www.esai.org/myESAi/viewtopic.php?t=12021&highlight=literature[/url]
January 27, 2008
Draft Proposal #1 for Education Division
Background
Few years ago, an ESAi member nicknamed “Myliham” posted a thread on esai.org challenging members to spend at least $100 in their former schools in Ethiopia. I was one of the members who accepted the challenge. Although there was a suggestion of buying sports products for our schools, I personally did not find it satisfying enough. I have always wanted to do something that inspires or provides an incentive for creativity as opposed to simply reacting to shortages. Accordingly, after about a year, I decided to use the money to sponsor a literature competition in my home province.
I contacted my former high school teachers and shared the idea. They were quick to form a committee and proceed to work. After a couple of months, the number of students that participated was not as expected. No entries were made from other towns, and although there were two categories, one in Amharic and one in Afan Oromo, there were no Amharic entries. However, the poetry competition in Afan Oromo took place, and awards were handed out. Despite the fact that it didn’t turn out to be as expected, some students were given incentives to be creative and handed rewards; and those who coordinated the process on the ground and I ended up with a valuable experience and a great sense of satisfaction. In addition, the influence of the competition was so greatly felt that the award ceremony was attended by officials from the city administration and Bureau of Education. The total financial cost was $300, and it was one of the best investments I have ever made.
Having decided to make it an annual practice, I have also brought my experience to the Education Division to be used as a basis to develop a bigger project. In addition to being an original ESAi-inspired idea, I hope that my experience can be viewed as a valuable experiment from which the Education Division and the organization in general can learn from and build upon.
What
The Education Division would like to propose the coordination and sponsorship of a poetry competition for high school students in Ethiopia.
At the core of the mission of ESAi, is using the potentials of Ethiopian students world wide to make a difference in Ethiopia. Through precedents set by former leaders and members of the organization, education has been chosen as one area we can work on to achieve that difference. Students in Ethiopia are less privileged than those of us residing and going to school in the west in an incomparable way. Although there are countless talented students, there are little opportunities and incentives to help them develop their potentials.
Because of lack of incentives, among other things, creativity is kept to the minimum. And as we all know, creativity is an important, if not the most important, content of development, which is what our country and citizens aspire for. It is through creativity that they can face the enormous challenges they face every day. And literature is one important form of creativity in which valuable ideas can be expressed. Thus, as members of an organization set out to make a difference in Ethiopia, we must get involved in fostering the atmosphere of creativity in Ethiopia in every way possible.
At the Education Division, we believe that a small contribution from members of ESAi residing in the west can help in that effort. Therefore, we have decided to develop the small project undertaken by our fellow team mate as described in the background.
If approved, this project will provide high school students in Ethiopia with an incentive to develop their potential in the area of literature. It will also establish a concrete line of communication between students in Ethiopia and most of ESAi members who are located in the Diaspora. Through the need for cooperation in executing it, it will bring together multiple divisions, members, donors, students and schools in Ethiopia, government agencies, etc…providing for an excellent platform for gaining experience. In addition, it is a perfect applicant to be ESAi’s annual signature project.
How
1. The division will establish a relationship with the Education Ministry in Ethiopia to get the necessary support for the project. The specific goal will be to get the addresses of high schools in Ethiopia and a letter of support.
2. The division, in cooperation with the web team, will upload the addresses of these high schools on a designated area on esai.org.
3. The division, in cooperation with the fund raising division and the ESAi executive team, will raise $1450. $1000 will be handed out in scholarships to winners. $450 will cover expenses. The details of the total expenses will be attached to the proposal.
4. The division will arrange for using the already existing ESAi P.O.Box or to get a new one in Washington D.C.
5. Simultaneously, the division will set up a task force of judges made up of member students (undergraduate and up) who have shown their literature talents before.
6. The division will set up a procedure, a judging criteria and a timeline for the competition in cooperation with the task force.
7. The division will draft a letter announcing the competition, laying out the criteria, the timeline and important contact information.
8. The division will attach that letter to a cover letter from the executive team and the support letter from the education ministry, and will mail them out to each high school we have the address for.
9. The division, in cooperation with the web team, will set up a designated area on esai.org to store all incoming entries so that judges from different locations will all be able to access it.
10. The division will assign someone or a group of individuals in Washington D.C. to be in charge of collecting mail and uploading it in the designated area.
11. After the deadline set by the task force, and a grace period to allow for late mail, the selection process will then be undertaken by the task force based on the procedure, criteria and timeline set previously.
12. Upon the completion of the selection process, the chosen winners will be awarded scholarships in the amounts: $450 for 1st place, $350 2nd place, and $200 for 3rd place.
13. The money will be transferred directly to the students through a channel to be determined by the treasurer of ESAi.
14. The chosen entries and others selected by the task force will be passed onto the Publication Division for publication.
When:
The project will be concluded on June 30th, 2008. However, that time is highly dependent on the cooperation we will get from the different divisions, the executive team, members and other external bodies concerned. Thus, it is subject to change.
May 4, 2008
July 25, 2008
Sept. 15, 2008
Aliiiighttiiie!!!
Kicking off the Judging Process
– We have a forum for discussion (thanks Fegul!)
– We have all the 31 articles posted on the forum for access by panel. (thanks Serkalem!)
– We have an evaluation sheet completed (thanks aba Kostir!)
– We have an assignment of judges to articles (thanks Wekkaw!)
– Nazrawi and I have volunteered to co-lead the Judging panel
– We’re contemplating a timeline which will be determined by this Wednesday
– We have an phenomenal woman leading this project. (you rock Empress!)Then we’ll have our deadline for you all beautiful people who are stakeholders in this big here project.
My Experience- 1st impressions
The details
I just finished printing out all the articles I was assigned
that is, 15 amharic poems and prose
the little things in the writing touched my heart.
writing is so personal
its someone’s hand that was gripping a pen. scribbling thoughts.
a bic or beika pen, maybe one with embroidery that says ‘ethiopia’ made of thread. maybe not.
the sheet of paper that is part of a writing pad
or the sheet that costs 10 santim with liner on the top;
the folded 2sheet paper we used for exams
red pen used to mark the punctuations
hmmm i wonder how many times this writer re-wrote to submit something immpeccable?
surprised by the many that were typed
How did that individual come across this contest?
what other type of writing does she/he do?
December 10, 2008
YEP!
All the Scoring is Completed!!Well DONE TEAM!
Special highlight: abakostir, Wekkaw, Alex and yekolotemari!We will shortly begin pulling all you wonderful members of esai and stakeholders into the judging process. We have selected 10 articles out of the 31 which will be voted for by the ESAi membership.
More updates coming up! Stay tuned.
Message sent to message board:
December 22, 2008
Dear members & friends of ESAi,
As most of you already know, in May 2008, ESAi invited one hundred Ethiopian high schools to participate in a Literature Contest. Some of you have supported us in this effort by making monetary contributions and/or sending us words of encouragement. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude on behalf of ESAi and the students that will benefit from this initiative.
However, although the hardest part is now finished, the work is not yet complete. We received several entries from high schools around the country over the summer. Judges, led by Tsega Belachew of ESAi, have read each entry and selected ten finalists. The next and final step is putting these finalists up for a public vote to select the three winners.
We hope to get as many people as possible to come and participate in the voting process. We want to showcase the entries because we believe the least those students deserve is to be heard.
That said, we invite you to visit www.esai.org beginning January 05, 2009 to participate in reading and voting for your favorite of the ten entries. Furthermore, in addition to making a commitment to participate, we would like to ask each one of you to please invite five people to do the same.
Note: All the entries are written in Amharic, so you need to be able to read and understand Amharic to participate in the voting process. However, even if you can’t read and understand Amharic, please participate in inviting others who do.
While you visit www.esai.org to vote on the literature contest, we would also like to ask you to take your time and look at other initiatives the new executive team is undertaking.
If you have any questions, comments and/or suggestions, please contact us at edu.division@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Mihret M Sibhat, Project Manager
Education Division
Ethiopian Students Association, International
www.esai.org
February 19, 2009
Dear ESAians,
Yesterday was the end of voting on the ESAi Literature Contest. The final round of voting was intended to select the three winners. However, there were no justifiable number of votes to be counted towards the final score. In some cases, there were zero or one vote. If we consider those when calculating the final score, they would create major disparities.
Therefore, it has been decided that the votes from the second round will stand as final.
The project has already dragged out to almost a year. And even if an extension was to be given, there is no guarantee that the number of participants in the voting process will increase. The best thing to do is to conclude the project as it is and pass on any recommendations to the future team.
The winners will be announced on Monday. If you have any questions, suggestions or credible concerns before that, please write the education division at edu.division[at]gmail[dot]com.
Thank you.