In the sixth year of the US Embassy/Observer Martin Luther King Jnr Essay Competition, young people from across Jamaica are being urged to enter this prestigious competition, not only for the exposure, but also the prizes.

“This is the concept that we’re promoting in this year’s essay contest,”said Isiah L Parnell, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy.

He continued, “and we’d like to see lots of entries. We’re asking students aged 13 to 16 and 17 to 19 to think and write about how Jamaicans can break down barriers and work more closely together. If young people can give examples of how misunderstandings and prejudice lead to conflict, they may be more likely to avoid violence.

The winners will receive their prizes at the US Embassy in March and I look forward to presenting them.

And the prizes are great: $30,000 for the first-place winner in each age group, and $15,000 for the second-place winners, along with copies of Dr King’s books and CD sets and a one-year subscription of TEENage Observer, Jamaica’s number one TEEN magazine. That’s a good pay-off for thinking and writing about harmony.”

Parnell says that among the many wise thoughts Martin Luther King expressed in his life, this one is among his favorites: “Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they cannot communicate; they cannot communicate because they are separated.”

Parnell added, “This quote is the theme of the joint US Embassy/Observer Martin Luther King Jnr Essay Competition this year and I think it’s very apt to apply to present conditions in Jamaica. Young people should think about why we fear each other. It’s not difficult to see that if we don’t know our neighbour we’ll be fearful and we won’t associate with that person, and so we’ll remain separated. But if we take the time to get to know each other, it becomes less likely that we’ll come into conflict. It’s very difficult, I think, to hurt people you know and understand.”

This is the last week to send in your entires for the US

Embassy/Observer Martin Luther King Jnr Essay Competition. Check T23

for details.