'Stop the Hate' Contest details announced

The Maltz Museum annually awards $100,000 in scholarships and anti-bias education grants through the Stop the Hate contest, which gives Northeast Ohio students a platform to voice their experiences with bias and discrimination and speak out in support of diversity and inclusion. Now in its twelfth year, the contest has so far engaged over 30,000 students across 12 Northeast Ohio counties and awarded more than $1 million to students and schools.

New this year is a Stop the Hate Summit. All contest participants who submit an essay will be invited to join the Summit which will bring together student upstanders from across Northeast Ohio for a one-day student-focused conference providing resources and training on diversity and inclusion. Summit attendees will receive a Stop the Hate Upstander Certificate recognizing their commitment to creating a better world that can be used on college applications. Created in partnership with Cuyahoga Community College, the Stop the Hate Summit will be held on April 26, following the contest award ceremony to be held on April 2.

Every year a new theme is selected to inspire students in their writing. This year, the Maltz Museum honors the memory and spirit of maestro Leonard Bernstein, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, whose life and legacy is explored in the Museum’s special exhibition, Leonard Bernstein: The Power of Music, on view Sept. 25-March 1, 2020. When speaking about why he wrote music Bernstein famously said, “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more devotedly than ever before.”

In 500 words or less, students are invited to think about their own life. Have they witnessed or experienced acts of injustice, racism, bigotry, or discrimination? How were they impacted by what they experienced, saw, or heard? What did they do, or what will they do, in response to these circumstances in order to create justice and positive change in their community?

Essays for grades 6-10 are due Jan. 8, 2020. Essays for grades 11 & 12 are due Jan. 20, 2020. Information about the contest can be found online at www. maltzmuseum.org/STH.