Contest With a Cause: Literacy

Welcome to this month's installment of "Contest With a Cause"!

First things first: why should you enter this month's contest?  The prize this month is two-fold.  One, I will make a donation to the literacy organization of the winner's choice, in honor of the winner.  $18 donation this time around; when my readership has grown, I'll consider bigger prizes for future contests.*  Two, your winning entry will be published here on this very blog.

Which leads me to the meat of the contest.  What do you need to do to win?  

First, write a brief essay (in the range of 500 words) or other creative piece about the impact of literacy on your life.  Preferably, your essay will be better written than the preceding sentence.

Second, email your response to me at Reb.A.Katz at gmail.com by September 15.  

Entries will be reviewed by me, with the top entries judged by Deborah Gist, the Rhode Island Commissioner for Elementary and Secondary Education, and possibly one or more additional judges.

* The random-seeming number here is related to Jewish tradition.  The numerical value of the Hebrew word meaning "life" is 18; thus we prefer to make our charitable donations in multiples of 18.