School Library Journal (1/4/12) reports:
Students can learn a lot about their family, themselves, and even history when they listen to grandparent’s or grand friend’s life stories. And young people can win a Lenovo ThinkCentre computer and $25,000 of EdOptions Orchard software when they enter the Legacy Project‘s 12th annual Listen to a Life Essay Contest. The national contest, which is run in partnership with Generations United, a membership organization based in Washington, D.C., receives thousands of entries every year.
To enter the Listen to a Life Contest, kids ages 8 to 18 simply interview a grandparent or a grand friend who’s at least 50 years old about their lifelong hopes and goals, how they achieved them and overcame obstacles, or about their key life experiences, and then write a 300-word essay based on the conversation. In addition to connecting generations, the contest helps students develop interviewing, listening, writing, and technology skills. The deadline for this year’s contest is March 30. For more information, visit the Legacy Project’s contest page.
This article originally appeared in School Library Journal’s enewsletter SLJTeen.