Penn Humanities Forum Essay Contest Declares Winners
June 2006
The Penn Humanities Forum recently announced that Tal Raviv (Eng. '09), Gena Katz (C' 06) and Dvorit Mausner (C' 07) won top honors for its yearly essay contest. The theme for this year's contest, which is sponsored in cooperation with the Marvin and Sybil Weiner Fund of the Van Pelt Library, was "If Ben Had Had His Way, in honor of Ben Franklin's tercentenary. The essay prompt called for applicants to consider what the university would be like today had Benjamin Franklin had his way, given Franklin's open disappointment that the institution he had founded, which would later be known as the University of Pennsylvania, did not adopt his views on education. Students were also asked to touch on the relevance of Franklin's views on contemporary education.
Tal Raviv, whose essay entitled "Spark" was the winner of the contest, received an award of $1,000. The two runners up, Gena Katz and Dvorit Mausner, will receive prizes in the amount of $500 each.
The winners were presented with their awards at the Tercentenary symposium held at the Van Pelt Library on February 24th, 2006 as part of the activities celebrating Ben Franklin's 300th birthday.
Established in 1999, the Penn Humanities Forum aims to demonstrate the central role of humanistic thought in the academy and the life of the community. Through cultural, educational and research programs focusing an annual theme, the Forum invites students, scholars and the general public to discover common ground. The theme for the 2006-2007 school year is "Travel."