Announcing the Winners of the 2022 Anti-Racism International Youth Writing Contest
The 2022 Anti-Racism International Youth Writing Contest offered youth around the world the opportunity to define and lead conversations about racism at a personal and political level.
An initiative of two senior undergraduate Contemporary Asian Studies students, Wan Li and Chan Min Roh, the contest invited anyone ages 14 to 21 to submit a piece of writing in response to the quote: “WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN A PANDEMIC OF RACISM.”
Say Wan Li and Chan of the contest: The prompt asks youth to reflect on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on racism, while also pointing to the ways systematic and individual forms of racism prevailed long before the COVID virus. It is a call for youths to examine their identities, stories, and relations to the events and communities around them.
We are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2022 Anti-Racism International Youth Writing Contest:
- 1st Place: “If Only,” Vanshika Kaushik, Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi, Delhi, India
- 2nd Place: “Racism is a Virus,” Kyo Lee, Laurel Heights Secondary School, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
- 3rd Place: “My Own Two Eyes,” Emma Tolliver, University of California, Davis, California, USA
Over the summer, the Contest received dozens of submissions from youth around the world. A group of student peer reviewers identified a long-list of submissions before a panel of finalist judges selected the top three winning submissions. The finalist judges included Takashi Fujitani (Professor, Department of History; Dr. David Chu Chair and Director in Asia Pacific Studies, U of T) Farzana Doctor (Author, Activist and Psychotherapist), Jasmin Zine, (Professor, Sociology, Religion & Culture and Muslim Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University), Angel Di Zhang (Writer, Internationally exhibited Fine-Art Photographer and Painter), and Natasha Deen (Canadian author, Children and Young Adult fiction works).
Contest winners will be celebrated in a forthcoming event presented by the Asian Institute’s Richard Charles Lee Asian Pathways Research Lab and the undergraduate academic journal, Synergy Journal.
