The Essay Contest is on hiatus this year and will resume in 2026.
For more information and education resources please visit: Echos & Reflections and our Holocaust Education page.
A Tribute to Moral Courage: Standing Up Against Injustice
Student Essay Contest
Meet the Winners of the 2023/2024 Student Essay Contest!
Essay winners Akshara, Giada and Levi (L to R; Not pictured: Cruz C.)
Join ADL Mountain States in congratulating this year’s winners of the annual A Tribute to Moral Courage: Standing Up Against Injustice student essay contest!
1st Place – Levi H.
Peak to Peak Charter School, Lafayette, CO
Ruby Bridges and Her Morally Courageous Acts
2nd Place – Giada S.
West Middle School, Greenwood Village, CO
Women: Our Freedom
3rd Place – Cruz C.
West Middle School, Greenwood Village, CO
Pino Lella: Bathing in Blood
Honorable Mention – Akshara P.
STEM School Highlands Ranch, Highlands Ranch, CO
Irena Sendler: Beneath the Shadow of Bravery
ADL’s A Tribute to Moral Courage: Standing Up Against Injustice student essay contest inspires educators, students and families/caregivers to research moral courage to find humanity’s best! We all need the motivation to remember those ordinary people who take extraordinary actions for the good of others because it inspires us to seek out those characteristics within ourselves.
There are remarkable examples throughout history and in more contemporary times of those fighting for a cause that creates justice, builds empathy and promotes compassion for all of us.
The A Tribute to Moral Courage: Standing Up Against Injustice essay contest encourages students from Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming in grades 7-12 to recognize those individuals and groups who took a strong stand on a specific issue based on their personal beliefs or convictions, regardless of the danger or threat to their safety. Not only do students write about how that person’s or group’s moral courage has an impact on the world, but, most importantly, how those actions have influenced their own lives. Past essay winners wrote about Bob Marley, Cesar Chavez, Imani McGee-Stafford, Marsha P. Johnson and even some of their own family members.
This essay contest uses the history of the Holocaust, providing a context for exploring the dangers of remaining indifferent and silent in the face of the oppression of others, to educate students about the ramifications of present-day stereotyping, prejudice, racism and antisemitism. In addition, this essay contest invites the writer to learn about moral courage and the personal and societal benefits that may be realized by standing up to injustice.
2024 Essay Winners were recognized on the evening of May 8, 2024, at ADL’s 2024 Governor’s Holocaust Remembrance Program.
The A Tribute to Moral Courage student essay contest is made possible by an anonymous donor who believes that anti-bias education and building communities is essential for our youth, families and educators.
Read, learn and get inspired work by our past winners.
Follow the links below: