In 2019, Ms. Afrika Abney provided services for the Annual Essay Contest hosted by Esther Productions, Inc.
Discovering Me...Without You: An Annual Personal Essay Contest hosted by Esther Productions, Inc is for teen girls 14-17 who live in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Region. It is designed to aid in the healing of fatherless girls by using the personal essay to help them discover their personal strengths and resilience. Cash prizes are presented to the winners and the writings of all finalists are published in a chapbook that is released in the spring of each year. Discovering Me…Without You Essay Contest was launched in 2019 by the Fatherless Daughter Empowerment Project, a division of Esther Productions Inc. The essay contest is designed to educate the public about the importance of fathers in the lives and development of girls and women. Nationally, more than 24 million children are growing up in homes without their fathers. In the Washington Metropolitan region at least 60 percent of homes are single parent households, many of them headed by women. The contest is intended to provide a platform for some of those children, particularly fatherless girls.
Most importantly, the teen girls are asked to reveal that story of self-discovery: how she has come to know her worth and value; how she has come to recognize her imperfections but also her strengths; and how she believes she can succeed in the world despite the challenge of fatherlessness. SOMETIMES PERSONAL OR FAMILY CHALLENGES CAN GIVE US STRENGTH If you live in the Washington Metropolitan Region, are a teen girl between the ages of 14 and 17 and are growing up without your father in your home, tell us how you have faced the challenge of father absence to achieve self-actualization and self-empowerment. Enter Esther Productions Inc.’s DISCOVERING ME…WITHOUT YOU Annual Personal Essay Contest CONTEST RULES: Essays must have a cover page with the author’s name, age, home address, email address and name of school. Essays must also have a title of the essay on all pages; the author's name may not appear on any page other than the cover page. Essays must be original and use proper citation(s); they cannot contain the words of another person without giving that individual credit within the text of the essay. Essays must be between 750 words and 1500 words; Essays must be written in English--the writer should indicate at submission if English is not her native language. Essays must be typed with 12- point font, doubled spaced, printed only on one side of the paper; essays may be submitted electronically either as a doc. or pdf file For more information: www.estherproductionsinc.com/contest or [email protected] Esther Productions, Inc. is a Washington, DC-based national nonprofit organization. Founded in 2004, it is dedicated to inspiring and empowering girls and women. It is supported through generous contributions from Kerry S. Pearson LLC, Emmanuel Bailey, Veterans Services Corp, Pepco, an Exelon Corporation, Fort Myer Construction Corporation Charitable Foundation and Esther’s Friends. |
DISCOVERING ME...
WINNERS 2019 1st Place: Miajah Spriggs 2nd Place: Au'jinae Roberts-Fountain 3rd Place: Selah White-Smith Honorable Mentions: Kayla Cabeza-Reyes, E'riel Davis, Empress Swift 2020 1st Place: Cara Hadden 2ndPlace: Marley McDonald 3rd Place: Amillyah Barnes-Wimberly Honorable Mentions: Gabriel McCrea, Ayisha Ferguson, Armani Bailey. 2021 1st Place Maya Samthanam 2nd Place Anais Joubert 3rd Place Amari Norris Honorable Mentions: Diya Jha and Briayawna Mitchell-Thomas 2022 Tier 1 1st Place: Raea Jordan 2nd Place: Dominique Barksdale Honorable Mention: Simaya Hammond Tier 2 1st Place: Raine Badua 2nd Place: Rahel Tseganeh |