Student Voices – Center for Intercultural Dialogue

The Center for Intercultural Dialogue invites students to apply for the opportunity to be published in a new publication, to be titled Student Voices.

Students (at any level, high school to doctoral students) may submit entries at any time; they will be judged four times/year. All entries submitted will be reviewed, and the best ones prepared for publication. This is not a competition with just a few winners; all entries passing review will be published. The students whose work is accepted for publication will be given profiles on the website.

The goal is to invite a wide range of students to tell the story of their own experience with intercultural dialogue, or what they have learned about intercultural dialogue, or what they want to share with others. As made clear on our website, intercultural dialogue is jointly constructed by participants, requiring cooperation to engage in new and different ways of interacting. This series is designed to publicly amplify the voices of students who have engaged in intercultural dialogues. Those dialogues do not have to have been successful; we can learn as much from things that go wrong as when things go right.

You may describe a time when intercultural dialogue occurred, providing a model for those who do not frequently participate in such dialogues, or write a letter to the editor arguing for the inclusion of training for intercultural dialogues in education; you may explain how to facilitate digital intercultural dialogues based on either personal experience, or write an opinion piece explaining what changes when intercultural dialogue is the norm rather than conflict. Think about the following as beginning points:

Consider a time when you noticed cultural differences.

How were the differences resolved?
What impact did this have on you?
Did it matter whether this was face-to-face communication or digital?
What lessons did you learn?
What would you do differently in future?
What advice do you have for others?

Each student can select their own topic to write about, however, it must emphasize intercultural dialogue. The context framing the dialogue discussed can include: family, friends, or relationships; the economy; education; politics, etc.

Potential formats can include: the narrative of a personal experience; a letter to the editor, an op-ed piece for a newspaper; a letter to someone; a short essay. Whatever the format, these should be written (as opposed to filmed, or recorded). If anyone wishes to include images (sketches, diagrams, cartoons) accompanying the text, that would be great. But what you write should be brief, no more than 2 pages in length.

As with all publications on this site, accepted submissions will be made available for free as printable PDFs which can be downloaded, printed, and shared (as is, without changes), without cost, so long as there is acknowledgment of the source.

Criteria for acceptance:

• Clear descriptive title

• On topic

• Clearly articulated thesis

• Original and creative thinking

• Good writing

There will be multiple competitions per year, in order to include as many students as possible without conflicting with existing schedules:

August 31, 2023
November 30, 2023
February 29, 2024
May 31, 2024

Essays should be submitted in English. Anyone wishing to also publish a translation in another language should say so. Students retain copyright to their own work but give CID the right to publish it for them. Submissions should be in the form of a Word document, and sent to the CID email.