The St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine has announced its 2022 annual Greek Language Essay Contest in memory of Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago.
This year’s contest reflects on the welcoming of immigrants to the United States and the winning contestant will receive a $1,000 prize. The contest is open to teenagers from the U.S. and Canada.
St. Photios Shrine commemorates the first Greek settlers to arrive in the New World while celebrating immigrants and their experiences in the U.S.
Millions of immigrants came to America through Ellis Island in New York City and would have viewed the Statue of Liberty upon entering the harbor.
At the pedestal of Lady Liberty, a plaque contains the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, with the most famous line reading, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”
For essay contest submissions, which must be written in Greek, St. Photios asks that participants discuss why or why not the following lines from Lazarus’ poem are still relevant for the nation.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
End these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
-Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus”
Essay contest details
Participants must be ages 13-19, and permanent residents of the United States of America or Canada.
Maximum word count: 1,000
A single essay (written in Greek) will be selected as the winner by a committee and will receive a $1,000 prize. All participants will receive a certificate.
All essays become property of St. Photios Shrine and can be used for various publicity purposes, always with the byline of the author.
Essays must be submitted no later than March 3 via email to Polexeni Maouris Hillier, executive director of St. Photios National Shrine, at [email protected]. The winner will be announced on Friday, March 25.
The 2022 Metropolitan Iakovos Memorial Greek Language Scholarship Essay Contest is made possible by the generosity of Stella Kokolis, M.Ed., President of the Federation of Hellenic American Educators.
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