Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign spearheaded by the American Library Association to celebrate the freedom to read.  Throughout human history, and across many countries and cultures, many books have been banned, confiscated, censored, destroyed in bonfires, had content edited out, and challenged in schools.  Also, many authors and their readers have been fined, imprisoned, threatened, assaulted and even executed for their association with banned books that were disapproved by some authorities and governments.

Steps to Participate

1: Choose and Read: Select and read a banned book: A banned book can be defined as, “any book that has been banned, censored, challenged or restricted.” The selected book can be any banned or challenged book. Ask any FC librarian with assistance in selecting or researching a banned book. The book does not have to be from FC Library.

2: Write: Compose a 500 -1,000 word essay answering only one of the four essay prompts below using supporting ideas from the banned book of your choosing. Essay Prompts:

• Do you agree or disagree with this statement? “Banning books is an attack on (my) identity and (my) culture.” Use examples from your chosen book and other sources to support your stance.
• Speculate using specific examples from the book, AND relevant events in history, trends, politics, current events, etc. what the consequences may be if the specific book you read gets banned. Be sure to discuss what consequences this banning could have on your own life/worldview.
• In what way(s) did reading a controversial book personally liberate you? Explain and support your reasoning
• Do you feel the banning / censoring of your chosen book was (not) justified for its time? Explain and support your reasoning using examples from your own life/lived experience to support your position.

3: Proofread carefully: Faculty from English and other departments will evaluate each essay on the following criteria:

• Organization
• Strength of argument
• Personalization
• Evidence of Research / Supporting details
• Format
• Language mechanics (i.e., grammar, spelling, syntax, punctuation, etc.)

Use of the MLA format is encouraged.

4: Submit: your essay (.docx or .doc format only) on or before OCTOBER 10, 2023. Include your first name, last name and Banner ID number on the essay.

1.) Online: using the submission form on the library website. Or…

2.) E-mail: Email your submissions to vmacias@fullcoll.edu with the subject line “2023 Essay Contest Submission.

One essay submission per student. No hand-delivered paper submissions, please. Submissions sent after the posted date and time will not be considered.