| Girl
Wins Writing Contest |
By Anne DeCecco
Observer Staff Writer |
| "Elephants and Empanadas" has proven to be the
award-winning way to capture children's attention when it
comes to teaching about diversity. But the secret to celebrating
differences is not a new Latin menu at the zoo, rather "Elephants
and Empanadas" is a newly published book by Herndon resident
Allie Hirsch, a senior at Oakton High School. |
| Hirsch wrote and illustrated the children's book as an entry
in B'nai B'rith International's "Diverse Minds Youth
Writing Challenge." The writing contest, which was open
to high school students in the Washington, D.C., area, challenged
students to write a children's book promoting tolerance and
positive views on diversity. |
| At an awards ceremony Monday night, Hirsch was announced
as the first place winner and she read her book to the children
in attendance. |
| As first-place winner of the contest, Hirsch's book was
published and she received a $5,000 college scholarship. She
said she plans to put the money toward her tuition at Oberlin
College next fall, where she plans to study creative writing.
|
| "It's about a young girl that goes to school and is
surprised by how much diversity there is and it scares her
a little bit," Hirsch said about her book. "And
then she has a dream that changes everything." |
| In the book, Julia, the lead character, awakes from her
dream and has an epiphany that everyone is just like her,
Hirsch said. |
| As for elephants and empanadas, Hirsch said they are "symbols
of diversity that she's a little bit afraid of but learns
to like." One of Julia's classmates ask her if she wants
to learn to write the Japanese character for elephant and
another classmate asks her if she would like to try an empanada
that she brought to lunch. |
| Hirsch said her mother, who works in the school system,
first told her about the contest. She said it took about a
month to write and illustrate the book. |
| "I actually came up with the characters first and then
I wrote a story to go around them," she said. "And
I knew what message I wanted to have the whole time." |
| The message, Hirsch said, is that differences can be a good
thing. |
| B'nai B'rith International is a Jewish human rights advocacy
organization. According to Sharon Bender, a spokesperson for
the organization, more than 100 contest entries were received
and eight judges reviewed them. |
| The judges, she said, were chosen for their diverse backgrounds
and included a civil rights attorney, the superintendent of
the D.C. public school system, the Associate Director Secretariat
for Ecumenical and Inter-religious affairs of the U.S. Conference
of Bishops and a children's author, among others. |
| B'nai B'rith International had 2,000 copies of "Elephants
and Empanadas" printed and donated them to local libraries
and teachers so the book can be used as a teaching tool, she
said. |
| At 17 years old, Hirsch's dreams of becoming a writer are
already coming true now that she has a published book. |
| "It feels great," she said. "I can't believe
it." |
