UC Bicentennial Essay Contest Deadline is March 31

The University of Cincinnati community - students, faculty, staff and alumni - have been invited to tell the UC story through verbal and visual essays. The best essays will receive cash awards of up to $1,000 and may be published in a book celebrating UC's bicentennial in 2019.

Rules and submission guidelines for the UC Bicentennial Essay Contest are available

online

.

"We want to publish a book that will engage readers even if they have never attended the University of Cincinnati," said H.C. Buck Niehoff, chair of UC's Bicentennial Spirit of History Committee. "Our university has tremendous breadth and diversity, and we want a book that reflects those qualities."

As the University of Cincinnati prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary, a group of alumni and faculty are at work to create two commemorative books for publication as part of the celebration. The book of essays - for which the contest was created - will serve as a companion to a scholarly history in preparation by UC Professor of History David Stradling.

The University of Cincinnati Bicentennial Essay Contest seeks essays that focus on a particular and personal aspect of the university. In general, successful entries will not provide comprehensive surveys of historical topics, but provide focused explorations of specific subjects related to the contestant's unique experience at UC or a focused aspect of the university’s history — a person, a place, a thing or a time. Written entries must be shorter than 3,000 words. Visual entries may include no more than 12 images.

Grand prize winners in each of four categories will receive a cash award of $1,000. In each category, a second prize of $500 and a third prize of $250 will be awarded. The deadline for submissions is midnight, March 31, 2016.