The Japan Center

JCSB-Canon Essay Competition

The deadline (12/31/2009) has passed. The result will be announced on our website (this page) by April 1.

The Fifth Japan Center - Canon Essay Competition (2009-2010) at Stony Brook University



Aim: The aim of the Japan Center - Canon Essay Competition is to promote awareness and understanding of Japan in the United States and to help young Americans broaden their international horizons.

Awards:
Best Essay Award*: three awards in the High School Division (1st Place: $2,000; 2nd Place: $1,000; 3rd Place: $500) and one award in the College Division ($2,000)
Special Award: up to three awards in the High School Division and two awards in the College Division
Honorable Mention: maximum of ten in the High School and College Divisions combined ($100 each)
*Complementary awards (Canon cameras) will also be associated.

Essay Topic: Contestants should discuss one or more aspects of Japan including Japan’s arts, pop culture, traditions, values, philosophy, history, society, politics, business, and technology in relation to their personal view, experiences, and/or future goals. (Contestants do not need to have any experience in visiting Japan or studying Japanese.) The previous award winning essays can be viewed at the Japan Center's website. (Click the links at the end of this page.)

Entry Qualifications: Contestants must satisfy all of the following conditions.
1. They must be 13 years old or older and enrolled in high schools or undergraduate programs in the New York Metropolitan area during the 2009-2010 school year.
2. They must be able to release the copyright of their essay to the JCSB and present their essay orally at the award ceremony if they are selected to be a recipient of an award or honorable mention.
3. They must be US citizens or legal permanent residents of the U.S. except void in Maine and wherever prohibited by law.

Conditions and Procedure:
Length: Maximum 750 words excluding title, footnotes, and bibliography for the High School Division. 1,000~1,500 words, excluding title, footnotes, and bibliography for the College Division.
Language: English
Format: The text is 1.5-line spaced and uses a 12-point font. The manuscript is formatted for standard 8.5 x 11 paper with 1" margins all around.
Use of External Information and Sources: All use of external information or sources must be properly cited in the essay and the sources must be listed in a bibliography. Use of any external materials without proper citation will be considered plagiarism and grounds for disqualification.
Submission: Send your essay in MS Word or RTF format by e-mail attachment to:

Japan_Center_Essay_Contest@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

Teachers may send their students’ submissions on their behalf.
Submission Deadline: December 31, 2009
Acknowledgement of receipt will be sent by January 9, 2010.

The organization of your electronic file to be submitted should be as follows:

File name: Division–Author’s Initial–Essay Title

Example 1: High School–JS–Cherry Blossoms and My Bird

Example 2: College–EK–Spirit of Japan and My Dream

The first page:

    a. Author’s full name
    b. Essay title and word count
    c. Affiliated school and grade level / academic standing (10th grade, freshman, senior, etc.)
    d. E-mail address (s)
    e. Mailing address
    f. Home address
    g. Telephone number
    h. Legal status (a citizen or a permanent resident of the US)
    i. Name and e-mail address of the faculty member who advised the author, if any
    j. Name and e-mail address of the author’s guardian(s), if the author is a minor
    k. Others (academic major, if any; any experience in studying Japanese or living in Japan)
The second page and after:
    a. File name (see above)
    b. Essay text (no image should be included)
    c. Bibliography, if any

Judging: Entries in the Japan Center - Canon Essay Competition will be evaluated by the following panel of judges on the bases of their insight, creativity, and originality of expression as well as their style, form, and organization.
Honorary Judges:
Mark Aronoff, Vice Provost of Stony Brook University
Joe Adachi, President & C.E.O. of Canon U.S.A, Inc.
Judges: Sachiko Murata (Chief Judge, Dept. of Asian and Asian American Studies), Clifford Huffman (English Dept.), Janis Mimura (Dept. of History), Gregory Ruf (Dept. of Anthropology/Asian and Asian American Studies), and Sheldon Reaven (Dept. of Technology and Society)

Recognition of Award Recipients:
The award recipients and their essays will be posted on the web site of the JCSB (http://www.stonybrook.edu/japancenter) on April 1, 2010. The award recipients in the Japan Center - Canon Essay Competition will be formally recognized at the 2010 JCSB Annual Meeting, to be held at the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University on Saturday, May 1, 2010.

Organizing Committee: Eriko Sato (Chair), Mary Diaz, Marlene Dubois, Tatsushi Hirono, Patricia Marinaccio, Joan Miyazaki, Eva Nagase, Chikako Nakamura, Gerard Senese, and Megs Shea
JCSB Board Member in Charge: Yoko Ojima
Canon U.S.A. Representatives in Charge: Richard Booth and Dawn Shields

The public relations of this essay competition is cosponsored by the Professional Education Program Outreach Office, Stony Brook University.