2009 Reading Project

Essay Contest

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT AN ENTRY FORM

All first-year students are invited to participate in the Fall 2009 Reading Project Essay Contest. First Place will receive $500, Second Place will receive $200, Third Place will receive $100, and three honorable mentions will each receive $50. Winners' essays may also be published on the Tulane Reading Project website and, potentially, in other Tulane University publications.

In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz addresses a wide-ranging set of issues while turning traditional fiction on its head. From the perspective of an overweight and overly romantic Dominican-American teenager, Díaz explores themes of identity, cultural politics and the American immigrant experience. We invite first-year students to explore one or more of the book's themes in the Reading Project Essay Contest.

ESSAY CONTEST GUIDELINES

• Submit an essay that grows out of your experience of reading and discussing The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The essay may be deeply personal and reflective, or analytical and scholarly; the choice is yours. The only thematic requirement is that the essay must directly engage an issue or set of issues that can, in some palpable way, be traced back to the book.
• The contest is open to all first-year students enrolled for the first time at Tulane University for Fall 2009.
• The essay should be 500 to 1500 words (limit of one essay per student). Essays may or may not have secondary sources. If the essay was written for a class assignment that was graded, rewritten, and/or commented upon, the instructor should be acknowledged.
• Essays must be submitted with the Essay Contest Entry Form. You may type directly into the form, then either print to submit as a hard copy, or save to send as an email attachment.
• Essays should be typed, double-spaced, and have standard margins. Please include your name and the page number in the upper-right-hand corner of each page. Essays may be submitted:
• • electronically: as an email attachment in a format compatible with Microsoft Word sent to donuts@tulane.edu (you must also email the Entry Form)
  • on paper: with Entry Form attached, accompanied by an electronic copy on a clearly labeled CD, to Robert C. Cudd Hall, Front Desk 

• Entries must be received by 5:00 PM, Friday, October 9th, 2009.
• The essays will be judged by a committee of faculty, students, and staff.
• The winners will be notified by email.

  Questions? Email us at donuts@tulane.edu.