The Baldwin Prize is an essay competition at Baltimore City College High School. Named after the writer and humanitarian James Baldwin, the Prize gives City College students an opportunity, during a pivotal stage of their development, to use the written word to explore their inner lives and how it connects with our shared humanity. In 2022, students will earn more than $2,000 in awards.
We are set to have 400 student writers this year, so we need your help. There are two volunteer opportunities. You can register here and read more details below.
1. Read and score essays
Readers (AKA judges) just need a willingness to read student writing and a bit of time. Each judge will be given no more than 6 essays on Sunday, March 27, 2022 and asked to submit scores (according to a rubric that will be provided) by Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
If you're curious, you'll find this year's prompt here. It's about deciding to reconnect with people in our lives, or, if need be, walking away from an existing relationship.
2. Be a writing consultant
Writing consultants should have some experience writing or editing work for publication. The type of publication and amount of writing or editing experience is not important. Writing consultants just need to be able to listen to students talk about the progress they've made on the current draft of their story and lead a group conversation (consisting of up to three students and one consultant) on things each young writer may want to consider as he or she revises the piece ahead of the submission deadline. Consultations will take place on Friday, February 25, 2022 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time. You can volunteer for as little as one hour online (via Zoom) or in person (at Baltimore City College High School).
To volunteer, please complete this short form.
More information about the Baldwin Prize:
- Learn all about the Prize and what students say about it in this short video.
- The Baldwin Prize blog has pictures and information from previous events as well as winning student essays.
- And we have a newsletter. You can sign up for it here.
We are set to have 400 student writers this year, so we need your help. There are two volunteer opportunities. You can register here and read more details below.
1. Read and score essays
Readers (AKA judges) just need a willingness to read student writing and a bit of time. Each judge will be given no more than 6 essays on Sunday, March 27, 2022 and asked to submit scores (according to a rubric that will be provided) by Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
If you're curious, you'll find this year's prompt here. It's about deciding to reconnect with people in our lives, or, if need be, walking away from an existing relationship.
2. Be a writing consultant
Writing consultants should have some experience writing or editing work for publication. The type of publication and amount of writing or editing experience is not important. Writing consultants just need to be able to listen to students talk about the progress they've made on the current draft of their story and lead a group conversation (consisting of up to three students and one consultant) on things each young writer may want to consider as he or she revises the piece ahead of the submission deadline. Consultations will take place on Friday, February 25, 2022 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time. You can volunteer for as little as one hour online (via Zoom) or in person (at Baltimore City College High School).
To volunteer, please complete this short form.
More information about the Baldwin Prize:
- Learn all about the Prize and what students say about it in this short video.
- The Baldwin Prize blog has pictures and information from previous events as well as winning student essays.
- And we have a newsletter. You can sign up for it here.
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