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:

• Prompt #1: What does this statement mean to you: “The vulnerable [or impressionable] must be protected from dangerous ideas?” How does this statement relate to your worldview? Do you need to be protected from dangerous ideas? Explain your reasoning and provide specific examples from your life experience and your chosen text.
• Prompt #2: Reading a controversial book can be a liberating experience. In what ways did your chosen book liberate you? Explain your reasoning and provide specific examples from your life experience and your chosen text.
• Prompt #3: How did you benefit from reading your chosen book? Provide one to three benefits and explain your reasoning. Be sure to link the benefits to specific examples from your life and chosen text.
• Prompt #4: Think about the time frame in which your book was banned/censored. After reading it, do you feel the banning/censoring was justified for the time? Do different times call for different levels of censorship? Explain your reasoning and provide specific examples from your life experience and your chosen text.

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 14, 2024. 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 “2024 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.