Call for Entries

The Institute for Jewish & Community Research and the Student Free Press Association are partnering to recognize excellence in student reporting on anti-Semitism.  Hostility, incivility and pervasive bias in American educational institutions have grown in recent years on campus, providing safe haven to anti-Semitism and a host of related biases, including but not limited to anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism in general. Louis D. Brandeis brilliantly stated that, “sunlight is the best disinfectant.”  

The Tobin Award encourages students to expose and document anti-Semitism first hand, pushing the issue into the public forum through both formal and informal reporting. Works produced by students are some of the most influential in setting the tone of campus discourse. The award offers students concerned with the devolution of civil political discourse on campus essential support and better tools to provide rational, balanced analysis on the current state of the college campus. The award for student reporting is geared toward increasing the quality and quantity of journalistic accounts of anti-Jewish hostility on campus.

Original student works will be submitted for inclusion and evaluated by a panel of judges that includes veteran journalists and civil rights experts. Work is for originality, depth, analysis, content, accuracy, and style. Particular emphasis on creativity will be placed on entries in the new media category. Judges may reassign entry categories depending on submissions.

What are the Categories?

Print journalism: Traditional media includes newspapers, magazines, television and in-depth reports. Mainstream, alternative and student outlets of any circulation size are considered. Prize amount: $1,000
 
New media:  Web sites, blogs, podcasts, and other multimedia. Prize amount: $1,000

What is the Deadline?

Entries must be submitted by April 11, 2011

Who is Eligible?     

The award competition is open to all students for writing published between September 1, 2010 and the deadline of April 11, 2011. The work should be submitted is as it appeared in its original publication.

No entry fee.

How do I submit or nominate an entry?

Click here to submit your work online.

Click here to nominate an article.

When will the winners be announced?

Award winners will be announced by May 11, 2011. IJCR and SFPA reserve the right to publicize and/or republish the work of the winner(s) in any form.

Other Questions?

For more information email awards@jewishresearch.org or call 415.386.2604

Background

Over the past decade, many colleges and universities have failed to ensure a safe, civil and constructive environment for students.  Campuses have become staging grounds for campaigns demonizing Israel, intimidating Jewish students and threatening the foundation of civil discourse in academia. Anti-Semitism and virulent anti-Israelism are regularly exhibited in a variety of venues on college campuses: speakers, events, media and scholarship have all been tainted by hostility and bigotry. History has shown that Jews are the “canary in the coalmine” of civility and tolerance. The lowered norms on campus threaten not just Jews, but all others as well.

Anti-Semitism is symptomatic of a deeper malaise that manifests in a disturbing array of mutually reinforcing anti-intellectual trends. Research by the Institute for Jewish & Community Research documents the relationship between anti-Jewish bigotry and anti-American, anti-Free Enterprise and anti-Christian ideological frameworks. While vigorous debate and exploration of difference are central aspects of a healthy educational environment, hostility, intimidation, prejudice and violence are not. Students experience these disturbing realities firsthand. As such, they have the most vested interest in addressing the problem and the best vantage point to expose it. Student reporting is only one part of a much larger effort to restore American educational institutions to their rightful place as defenders of honesty, civility and tolerance, but it is an essential piece.

2011 Tobin Award Winners