In 2008, hundreds of young thinkers from 17 different countries submitted essays in English, Arabic, French, and Farsi. Ten cash prize winners were selected, along with 50 book prize winners. From among hundreds of strong essays, the winners below stood out for their bold ideas and compelling messages. Their varying approaches reflect the need for diverse responses to the problems posed by civil rights repression in the Middle East.

Middle East Prize Winners

American Prize Winners

First Place: Telmah Parsa, 21, Iran
Iran's Case

“With new eyes I saw new things” – a young Iranian discovers he is a character trapped inside George Orwell’s novel 1984 and comes to the realization that civil rights repression cannot continue. He calls out with passion to readers on the other side of the divide, trying to balance fears and hopes while charting a way out of his all-too-real tragedy.

First Place: Sarah Rife, 18, UT
The American-Middle East Civil Rights Project: A Four Year Retrospective

The author’s vision of civil rights reform four years in the future displays a keen understanding of the obstacles facing activists - as well as a framework for overcoming them. Resistance from dictators and fundamentalists may obstruct genuine reform, yet the persuasive strategies outlined in the essay suggest a way forward.

Second Place: Houda Sidatt, 23, Mauritania
My Story, My Struggle -(français)

A young woman offers an intimate confession of her first failed foray into activism, as her frank essay reveals the impact of social stigmas on overall civil rights repression. But while her blog may be shut down and her marriage blocked, the author refuses to back down or admit defeat. As long as she can write, the struggle continues.

Second Place: Zach Dorfman, 24, CA
Revitalizing the Marketplace of Ideas in the Middle East

The author peddles his own wares in what he calls the “souk of ideas,” recruiting readers of diverse perspectives to help protect free expression as an essential building-block of reform. With examples linking disparate countries from Iran to Morocco, the essay reminds that small steps to support individuals under fire can ultimately yield larger breakthroughs.

Third Place:
M.A., 21, Egypt
Ten Tips

A young Egyptian cuts to the chase, proposing a series of specific projects to advance popular support for civil rights reform. With a mildly irreverent attitude, he offers a ten-point plan for ramping up awareness and activism. The essay’s can-do approach inspires optimism and challenges readers to develop their own campaigns.

S.I., 18, Saudi Arabia
Civil Rights in Saudi Arabia: a Distant Dream

This essay concludes with a quote from H.L. Menken that the “average man does not want to be free, he simply wants to be safe.”The decidedly not average author of the essay rejects that bargain. As an insider-outsider non-citizen of Saudi Arabia, this teenager casts a critical eye on the repression she has grown up inside, as well as on the passivity of her neighbors.

Mona Musleh Al-Harbi, 19, Saudi Arabia
My Freedom - العربية

A snapshot from a Saudi classroom, as a think-different teenage student stands up for her own basic rights in the face of hostility from classmates and teacher alike. Even within the narrow confines of Saudi Arabia’s Sunni majority, this essay reveals, religious and intellectual freedom do not exist. But the author is determined to make her case despite the risks.

Third Place:
D.A., 23, FL
People of Nonexistence

The essay’s striking title sets the scene for a brass-tacks proposal for tackling the festering problem of ordinary individuals denied citizenship in countries across the Middle East. While these “bedoons” may lack nationality papers, the author has a clear plan to advocate effectively on their behalf. May it soon be implemented.

Alexandra Duggins, 22, FL
Because I Choose To

The world is indeed flat when a student from the Midwest finds herself at a women’s leadership conference in Dubai. Yet while the city’s skyline may be shooting upwards at breakneck pace, architectural growth cannot hide civil rights stagnation. What is ultimately at stake, the author concludes, is a women’s right to choose.

Andrew Wong, 18, MD
Civil Rights a Shared Responsibility

“Many Americans view Middle Eastern civil rights as an oxymoron,” the author of this essay wryly observes, after noting the basic civil rights he enjoys every day. Behind the essay’s simple style is a pulsing moral argument for young Americans to see the freedoms they have inherited as a precious gift that must be shared.

Samar Al-Mazghani - العربية : At the Tunisia-Libya border crossing, a young woman runs smack into the sexism and petty repression that continues to hold back her society.

H. Abdolreza - العربية :A straightforward yet compelling vision from a young Iranian of what her society could look like instead.

R. Al-Gayeb- العربية: A young Bahraini reporter identifies three litmus tests of civil rights in Middle Eastern society: free expression through art, treatment of religious minorities, and women's equality.

Souad Adnane: “Is it of my fault that I have a breast and a female genital apparatus?” asks the author, detailing simple yet profoundly hurtful restrictions placed on her simply because of her gender. She adds: “Don’t I have the right to pursue and fulfill my dreams?”