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: Which banned book most challenged or reshaped your worldview? Describe a moment when you recognized yourself (or someone you know) in the text. Given examples from the text and how they are/were applicable in your own life. 
• Prompt #2: Reading a controversial book can be a validating experience. In what ways did your chosen book validate you? Explain your reasoning and provide specific examples from your lived experience and your chosen text.
• Prompt #3: If a banned book had been unavailable to you at a particular stage of your life, what part of your growth or perspective would have been different? Why? Explain using examples from the text AND your past and present lived experience(s) to support.
• 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 varying 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 19, 2025, 11:59 p.m.

Please include your first name, last name, and Banner ID number on the essay.

• Online (preferred): using the submission form on the “Ready to Submit?” upload pane on the left, or on the library website.  
• E-mail: Email your submissions to vmacias@fullcoll.edu with the subject line “2025 Essay Contest Submission.”

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

Contact

For questions or concerns, contact Student Programming Librarian Val Macias at vmacias@fullcoll.edu.

For more information on Banned Books Week, please visit the American Library Association page: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned.

The Banned Books Essay Contest is fully funded through a generous grant from the Fullerton College Friends of the Library.