The winner of the 2015 Alice Paul Institute essay contest was announced at the 130th Birthday Celebration of Alice Paul. Carlotta Carrington Redden, an eighth grader from Williamstown who attends Friends School of Mullica Hill was selected from an array of entries from across the region.
In August, the Alice Paul Institute announced the essay contest for eighth grade children. Alice Paul, born in 1885 in Mt. Laurel, led the final push to gain passage of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. She subsequently wrote the Equal Rights Amendment, which has yet to be ratified by the required three-fourths of states.
The contest asked eighth grade children to compose a 500-word essay addressing the following question. Think about the resources and tactics that were used by Alice Paul when she fought for women’s rights. Now think about the tools and methods that are available today. What might Alice Paul have done the same or differently if she had access to today’s tactics, methods, and resources?
In her essay, Redden referenced social media as a tactic Paul could use to get her message across today. “Think of how many “likes” it would get! On Facebook, videos of the march on the White House could be shared and viewed repeatedly until the message was reached to the masses. Twitter messages would have been exchanged daily and followers would have joined in huge numbers,” she concluded.
Writers were encouraged to visit alicepaul.org to learn about Alice Paul and the fight for women’s rights. The essay contest was judged by a panel of notable women and men, including Mindy Holman, president and CEO of Holman Automotive Group, and Jill Horner, on-air talent and owner of JCH Media.
Appropriately, the winner was announced at the Alice Paul Institutes 130th birthday celebration, on Sunday Jan. 25 at Moorestown Quaker Meetinghouse. The event featured a keynote speaker, award-winning ABC-TV News correspondent Lynn Sherr who discussed her book Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space –a New York Times best seller and one of the Washington Post’s best books of the year. Sherr spoke candidly about her friendship with Sally Ride and the process of writing her biography. Ride was an Alice Paul Equality Award Honoree in 1985.
The event was a celebration of a variety of generations coming together to celebrate the 130th birthday of Alice Paul. Also in attendance was Victoria Napalitano, who is the youngest mayor of Moorestown, New Jersey and youngest woman to become mayor in New Jersey.
Redden was presented with a $500 savings bond by Melinda Champion, chair of the Board of Directors at the Alice Paul Institute at the birthday celebration.
