CHICAGO, IL - Courtney Hough (La Porte, Indiana) and Kat Gillian (Morris, Alabama) each won $500 U.S. savings bonds in a national acronym and essay contest. This sixth annual contest, judged by an independent panel of professional writers, was created by self-esteem and character development nonprofit, Hey U G L Y - Unique Gifted Lovable You and sponsored by Dean Klassman, of Klassman Financial, one of the nation's leading financial advisors.
Hough won first place in a national contest asking students nine to19 to create positive acronyms for the words Dork, Loser, Hate, Racism, or Stupid. Hough hears the word racism in a different way because this 16-year-old student interprets 'racism' as: Remove All Color, I'm Simply Me. The La Porte, Indiana girl hopes her creative acronym helps others to understand that it's not the color of you skin that matters, it's the size of your heart.
Gillian won first place in a national Why Having Positive Self-Esteem Can Stamp Out bullying essay contest. This sixteen year-old from Morris, Alabama believes "If we start building children's self-esteem from a very early age, then not only can we prevent them from becoming bullies, but we can also prevent them from being affected by bullies." Gillian's complete essay can be found at http://www.heyugly.org/Essay.php.
The panel of judges was comprised of Lisa Barron, freelance writer for People magazine; Rieva Lesonsky, former editorial director of Entrepreneur magazine; Sharon Dettmer, freelance writer for South Bend Tribune; Paul DeCeglie, writer for Pattaya Today; Rick Erwin, freelance camera man for ABC, NBC and FOX TV and director of the award-winning film, "Things You Should Know Before Entering the Hospital" and the "Blink 82 Rockumentary" for MTV; Laurie Wink, reporter for the The News Dispatch; and Jill Zimmerman Rutledge, M.S.W., LCSW a psychotherapist who has worked with adolescent girls and young women for over twenty years and is author of: Dealing With The Stuff That Makes Life Tough, The Ten Things That Stress Girls Out and How To Cope With Them and Picture Perfect: What You Need To Feel Better About Your Body.
The seventh annual acronym and essay contests are underway. Deadline is May 15, 2010.
Hey U G L Y is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering teens and tweens with character development and self-esteem-building programs to help them counter bullying, eating disorders, violence, substance abuse and suicide. (UGLY is an acronym for Unique Gifted Lovable You.) Hey UGLY has helped over 650,000 students through our work with schools, community organizations and youth development professionals. Our website, radio show, emotional learning activity plans, in-school presentations and teen/tween task force programs enable students to become an integral part in the teaching and learning process. Since the number one influencer of teens and tweens is their peers, we design all of our programs to empower the students to be a part of the solution. Go to http://www.heyugly.org to learn more.
Hough won first place in a national contest asking students nine to19 to create positive acronyms for the words Dork, Loser, Hate, Racism, or Stupid. Hough hears the word racism in a different way because this 16-year-old student interprets 'racism' as: Remove All Color, I'm Simply Me. The La Porte, Indiana girl hopes her creative acronym helps others to understand that it's not the color of you skin that matters, it's the size of your heart.
Gillian won first place in a national Why Having Positive Self-Esteem Can Stamp Out bullying essay contest. This sixteen year-old from Morris, Alabama believes "If we start building children's self-esteem from a very early age, then not only can we prevent them from becoming bullies, but we can also prevent them from being affected by bullies." Gillian's complete essay can be found at http://www.heyugly.org/Essay.php.
The panel of judges was comprised of Lisa Barron, freelance writer for People magazine; Rieva Lesonsky, former editorial director of Entrepreneur magazine; Sharon Dettmer, freelance writer for South Bend Tribune; Paul DeCeglie, writer for Pattaya Today; Rick Erwin, freelance camera man for ABC, NBC and FOX TV and director of the award-winning film, "Things You Should Know Before Entering the Hospital" and the "Blink 82 Rockumentary" for MTV; Laurie Wink, reporter for the The News Dispatch; and Jill Zimmerman Rutledge, M.S.W., LCSW a psychotherapist who has worked with adolescent girls and young women for over twenty years and is author of: Dealing With The Stuff That Makes Life Tough, The Ten Things That Stress Girls Out and How To Cope With Them and Picture Perfect: What You Need To Feel Better About Your Body.
The seventh annual acronym and essay contests are underway. Deadline is May 15, 2010.
Hey U G L Y is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering teens and tweens with character development and self-esteem-building programs to help them counter bullying, eating disorders, violence, substance abuse and suicide. (UGLY is an acronym for Unique Gifted Lovable You.) Hey UGLY has helped over 650,000 students through our work with schools, community organizations and youth development professionals. Our website, radio show, emotional learning activity plans, in-school presentations and teen/tween task force programs enable students to become an integral part in the teaching and learning process. Since the number one influencer of teens and tweens is their peers, we design all of our programs to empower the students to be a part of the solution. Go to http://www.heyugly.org to learn more.