Top 25 Stop the Hate® Contest Finalists Announced

Award Ceremony to be held April 29 naming this Year’s Winners

CLEVELAND, OH –  The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is proud to announce the top 25 finalists for the 10th Annual Stop the Hate® Youth Speak Out essay writing contest. The contest winners will be named live at the award ceremony, to be held on Sunday, April 29, 2018, at 4pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The inspiring event is FREE and open to the public. Registrations are encouraged to guarantee seating. Register here.

The Maltz Museum’s Stop the Hate® contest is now in its 10th year and as timely as ever.

Stop the Hate is more than a scholarship or grant opportunity, it’s a movement,” said program chair, Jordan Goldberg. “We are living in a time when speaking out and standing up for each other matters more than ever. This movement is about educating and empowering young people to use their voices for good.”

Stop the Hate® Youth Speak Out is a personal essay contest with the chance to win individual scholarship money for college (schools also receive money for anti-bias education when their students win). By challenging young people to consider the benefits of a more inclusive society, the consequences of intolerance, and the role of personal responsibility in effecting change, the Maltz Museum’s Stop the Hate® contest also reflects Jewish values of responsible citizenship and respect for all humanity.

Each year, through the generosity of a donor, the Maltz Museum gives out $100,000 in scholarships, awards, and support for anti-bias education in recognition of 6-12th grade upstanders from throughout Northeast Ohio. In 2018, the amount awarded to students and schools participating in Stop the Hate® will total $1 million. An estimated 30,000 students have participated in the last ten years.

The top 25 finalists for 2018 Stop the Hate® Youth Speak Out are:

Top 10 Juniors & Seniors, competing for grand prize of $40,000 in scholarship money:

Tadj Adams, grade 11/age 16, Hawken School
John Kunzo, grade 12/age 17, Gilmour Academy
Megan Lebowitz, grade 12/age 17, Solon High School
Peyton Lunder, grade 12/age 17, Padua Franciscan High School
Julia Mayer, grade 12/age 17, Solon High School
Dahlia Moskowitz, grade 11/age 17, Fuchs Mizrachi
Hailey Nudelman, grade 12/age 17, Twinsburg High School
Schuyler Radivoyevitch, grade 11/age 17, Cleveland Heights High School
Hannah Shuffer, grade 11/age 16, Orange High School
Maria Zou, grade 12/age 17, Hudson High School

Grades 6-10 competing for $400 awards, by grade:

6th grade
Flannery Costello, grade 6/age 11, Rocky River Middle School
Isabella Kovacs, grade 6/age 12, Rocky River Middle School
Scott O’Neill, grade 6/age 11, Newton D Baker

7th grade
Maggie Chen, grade 7/age 13, Memorial Middle School
Rebecca Lawton, grade 7/age 12, Beachwood Middle School
Jennifer Williams, grade 7/age 13, Old Trail Elementary

8th grade
Alexandra Holtz, grade 8 /age 13, Chagrin Falls Middle School
Elana Rouse, grade 8 /age 14, Rocky River Middle School
Bowen Zhang, grade 8 /age 13, Beachwood Middle School

9th grade
Jonah Gilbert, grade 9 /age 14, University School
Cara Finnegan, grade 9 /age 15, Elyria Catholic High
Rileyanna Karic, grade 9/age 14, Brecksville-Broadview Heights High

10th grade
Emi Cummings, grade 10/age 15, Laurel High School
Anaya Hunter, grade 10 /age 16, Whitney Young High School
Sabriya Zaman, grade 10/age 15, Solon High School

This year’s judges for the 10th anniversary ceremony include: Toni Baker, MSM, PNC; Tai-Chi Chan, Lubrizol; Jessica Cohen, Jewish Federation of Cleveland; James Gutierrez, MD, FACP, Cleveland Clinic; Eduardo Kim, Thompson Hine; George Koussa, Margaret Wong & Associates; Monyka Price, City of Cleveland; Cecilia Render, Nordson Corporation Foundation; Phyllis Harris, LBGT Center of Greater Cleveland; Cynthia Norwood, The ARC Greater Cleveland.

The scholarship winners will be named live at the award ceremony on April 29.

The award ceremony is free and open to the public. The event beings at 4PM on April 29 and will be held at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Registrations are encouraged to guarantee seating.
Register here.

 


Maltz Museum