The contest challenged high school students to reflect on diversity and racial injustice.

(Somerset, NJ, 2/24/2022) – The New Jersey chapter of the Council for Social Justice, (CSJ NJ) today is pleased to announce the winner of the 2022 statewide Black History Month Essay Contest.

High school students were asked to write 600 words or less on the following topics:

Grades 9 & 10: The Power of Diversity in the Community
Grades 11 & 12: Racial Injustice and the Responsibility of Youth

After careful review of all submitted essays, our panel of judges announced the following winners:

Grades 9 & 10
1st prize: Shaimaa Al-Zaman of Princeton Junction, NJ
2nd prize: Noor Alawi of Wayne, NJ
3rd prize: Rayhana Choudhury of Fair Lawn, NJ
Grades 11 & 12
1st prize: Salma Abdallah of East Orange, NJ
2nd prize: Rahma Rizly of Piscataway, NJ
3rd prize: Afnan Abbassi of Washington Township, NJ

First prize winners in both age groups will receive a new tablet. Second and third prize winners will receive $200 and $100 gift cards respectively.

All winning essays can be found here: https://www.icnanj.org/csj/winners/

The Council for Social Justice, a project of The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), is a social justice/human rights organization that strives to systematically facilitate the human struggle for the rights of the poor and oppressed in the United States. See: icnacsj.org. ICNA is a leading American Muslim organization, dedicated to the betterment of society through the promotion of Islamic values. Since 1968, ICNA has worked to build relations between communities by devoting itself to education, outreach, social services and relief efforts. See icna.org.

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