2022 Student Essay Contest

Read Dr. Eve Ewing’s poem, “I saw Emmet Till this week at the grocery store.” The poem can be found at this link: https://poets.org/poem/i-saw-emmett-till-week-grocery-store. Write a piece of Chicago history—a person, an event, a place that no longer exists—into 2022. If you’re writing about a historical figure, you can start by asking questions like: Where would they frequent? Who would they spend their time with? What types of organizations or movements would they be involved with? How would they interact with and inhabit Chicago, and the world, in its current form? If you’re writing about an event, you can re-imagine how it would unfold in the current world. Who would attend? How would advances in technology change the structure of the event, if at all? How would people react? These are just a few brainstorming questions to get you started, but feel free to get creative with both the content and the form. Though the contest is formally called an “essay contest,” we will accept poetry, fictional articles, or whichever form in which you feel most comfortable expressing your ideas! Eligibility: All South Side students from grades 6-12 Word Count: 500-1200 words Submission Deadline: Sunday May 8, 2022 at 11:59pm Please submit Word documents (.docx) OR link to a Google Doc that has open view and edit privileges OR copy and paste the text of the essay directly into this form. Please contact Madeleine Parrish at madeleine.parrish@southsideweekly.com with any questions.