(Communicated by the Tel Aviv University Spokesperson)
A national writing competition organized by five leading Israeli Universities was launched by the Arditi Foundation last Thursday (October 30 2014). The universities participating in the competition are Tel Aviv University, Bar Ilan University, Ben Gurion University, Haifa University and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The final submission date for the competition is March 1, 2015.
The competition is open to all undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral students enrolled at these universities.
The work will be a fiction/drama of approximately 2500 words, either a short story or a play, addressing one of the major themes facing Israeli society: Jews and Arabs in Israel.
The basic rule to follow for the contestants in writing their fiction will be to put themselves "In the other's Shoes". This capacity, together with the literary quality and the originality of the stories, will be a major criterion in evaluating the works in competition.
The three best works at each University will get awards of $5,000, $3,000, and $2,000. The foundation will publish the fifteen best works.
The best story/drama submitted to each university will then be translated into English and will be presented to an international jury. The winner selected by the international jury will get an additional award of $10,000.
The awards will be granted at a ceremony on June 15, 2015 at 18:00 at the Hall of Justice, The Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University.
Prof. Raanan Rein, Vice President of Tel Aviv University who coordinates the competition said: "A leading research institute like TAU has a cultural and a social obligation as well. This competition will express the pluralistic character of TAU and its emphasis on the need for recognition of the ‘other’".
A Swiss citizen of Turkish-Sephardic origin, Metin Arditi lives in Geneva. He is the head and the founder of the Arditi Foundation; he is well known author and a philanthropist. In 2012 he was made Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO, and in 2014 UNESCO named him Special Envoy for Intercultural Dialogue.