Essay Contest
The
David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies is pleased to sponsor an annual
student essay contest in conjunction with International Education Week (see
web site) in
November. The competition is designed to promote BYU students' understanding
of and appreciation for current global issues.
“The university is known for its student body who have had international
experience, and we have a core of students whose academic discipline is shaped
by that experience,” said Jeff Ringer, Kennedy Center director. “The
essay contest will offer those students a visible way to express and receive
recognition for their international involvement.”
The competition is open to all full-time BYU students. See Contest Rules
on left menu for essay entry form.
Kennedy Center Essay Contest Rules
Interested students must respond to one of the three issues outlined below.
Fill out ENTRY
FORM and print to accompany essay.
Cash Prizes
A cash prize will be awarded for the top three papers: first place $500, second
place $300, and third place $200.
Submission Guidelines
1. Essays should be double spaced, 1" margins, 10–12 pages in length,
and documented with end notes.
2. Deadline for submissions is Wednesday, 2 November 2005. Submissions must
be delivered to Kennedy Center Publications, 210 HRCB, no later than NOON.
Late submissions will not receive consideration.
3. Winning entries will be honored in a public forum during International
Education Week on Thursday, 17 November 2005 at 11:00 A.M.
in 238 HRCB, where students are required to present a summary of their papers.
Deadline: Wednesday, 2 November 2005 at noon
Essay Topics
1. "While the State Department has made some very important strides .
. . there are still too many qualified students unable to get visas to study
in America, and too many who today are deterred from even applying,"
according to Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) (http://www.aip.org/fyi/2005/052.html).
Visas issued to students dropped 25 percent in 2002. Thirty-five percent of
all visa applications were rejected in 2003. The total number of immigrants
granted the right to stay in the U.S. fell 24 percent in 2003.
Analyze the long-term implications of this policy and present what you feel
is a workable solution that could be implemented to overcome the problem.
2. In a 2004 Pew Research Center survey, three out of four Americans believed
that American foreign policy should be guided by “moral principles.”
At the same time, many believe that the U.S. should avoid making sacrifices
for the benefit of others unless it is in our strategic interest—echoing
realist views. Still others argue that setting aside morality is necessary
where our survival as a state is at stake.
Consider whether there is any way to reconcile these conflicting views and
if the U.S. is justified in amoral or immoral behavior overseas.
3. Mohammed Ibrahine, writing for the Carnegie Endowment, states: “While
satellite television often attracts the lion's share of analysis about new
media and their effect on prospects for democratization in the Middle East
and North Africa, another technology may already have had at least as large
an impact: the Internet.” Ibrahine notes that while regimes may constrain,
control, or silence independent print media through direct and indirect censorship,
the Internet allows unrestricted flows of information.
Address the use of the Internet as a means of emboldening democratization
in restrictive states and suggest how it may be used to open spheres of participation.
2004 Winners
First Place
Independence in Southern Sudan
James D. Gilchrist
Second Place
A Workable Method
Robert Keele and Dylan Finch
Third Place
The Chinese and Uyghurs in the
Xinjiang Situation
Jacob Strain
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