The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is proud to announce the 2022 winners of the 14th Annual Stop the Hate® Youth Speak Out & Youth Sing Out Contest. The contest annually awards $100,000 in scholarships and prizes to middle and high school upstanders speaking out against bias and bigotry through essay writing and songwriting. Winners were announced during an online awards ceremony on April 13 at 7:00pm which was viewed by an audience of nearly 1,000 attendees.
The Stop the Hate contest has two components: Youth Speak Out, essay writing for individual students, and Youth Sing Out, songwriting for classrooms. Both celebrate Northeast Ohio upstanders in grades 6 – 12 who are committed to creating a more accepting, inclusive society.
Since the contest began 14 years ago, the Maltz Museum has awarded $1.4 million to students and schools across 12 Northeast Ohio counties, with an estimated reach of nearly 40,000 young people.
Visit the Maltz Museum’s website to read the inspiring essays as well as listen to the empowering songs penned by Northeast Ohio students: https://www.maltzmuseum.org/sth
Jaqueline Hudak, an 11th grader at Lakewood High School, was named grand prize winner of the essay contest. In her essay, she wrote about the importance of body positivity in young girls, saying:
“My vocation is to help young girls to be thankful for all the different jobs their bodies do for them—for girls to be as kind to themselves as they are to others… Discrimination has plagued society for hundreds of years and it comes from the disease of misinformation and a lack of education. It takes all of us uniting not in fear but in hope to stop the hate.”
Read Jacqueline’s full essay, and those of all the remarkable finalists: https://www.maltzmuseum.org/sth
2022 YOUTH SPEAK OUT 11TH-12TH GRADE WINNERS
Youth Speak Out Grand Prize Winner
- Jaqueline Hudak, Grade 11, Lakewood High School
($20,000 scholarship; $5000 grant to Lakewood High School)
Youth Speak Out First Runner-up
- Maraja Moss, Grade 12, Jackson High School
($10,000 scholarship; $2000 grant to Jackson High School)
Youth Speak Out Second Runner-up
- Sanjana Katiyar, Grade 11, Strongsville High School
($5,000 scholarship; $2000 grant to Strongsville High School)
Youth Speak Out Honorable Mentions
($1,000 scholarships; $500 grants to schools)
- Moira Ackerman, Grade 12, Hudson High School
- Raychelle Davis, Grade 12, Hudson High School
- Lizzy Huang, Grade 11, Shaker Heights High School
- Tiba Jraik, Grade 12, Rhodes College and Career Academy
- Samah Khan, Grade 11, Beachwood High School
- Jenan Qaraqish, Grade 12, Hudson High School
- MyKenna Roy, Grade 12, Mayfield High School
2022 YOUTH SPEAK OUT 6–10TH GRADE WINNERS
(1st place receives $400 cash prize; 2nd place receives $100 cash prize)
10th Grade
- First Place: Benjamin Ralph, Walsh Jesuit High School
- Second Place: Asia Howard, Twinsburg High School
9th Grade
- First Place: Michael McNally, Mayfield High School
- Second Place: Anah Khan, Beachwood High School
8th Grade
- First Place: Ida Chang, Beachwood Middle School
- Second Place: Chelsea Gipson, Monticello Middle School
7th Grade
- First Place: Jocelyn Sesnowitz, Joseph and Florence Mandel Jewish Day School
- Second Place: Aanchal Nassar, Hathaway Brown
6th Grade
- First Place: Juliet Richards, Hudson Middle School
- Second Place: Mattia Sturman, Rocky River Middle School
2022 YOUTH SING OUT WINNERS
(1st place schools receive a $3,500 grant; runner-up schools receive a $2,000 grant)
High Schools
- First Place: “Speak Out” performed by Taylor Lamborn
Written by Nicole Majercak’s 1st Period Class of Beachwood High School - Runner-Up: “Skittles” performed by Charlie Mosbrook
Written by Sarah Hodge’s Civics 2.0 Class of Glenville High School
Middle Schools
- First Place: “Tell Me (My Life Matters)” performed by Charlie Mosbrook
Written by Lisa Blasko’s 7th Grade Class of Garfield Middle School - Runner-Up: “Revenge Is Not The Way” performed by Sam Hooper
Written by Mollie Lockwood’s 6th Grade Class of Clark Elementary School
Hear all the winning songs online: https://www.maltzmuseum.org/sth
2022STOP THE HATE SCHOOLS OF THE YEAR
Together with its partners, Lake Erie Ink, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Roots of American Music, the Maltz Museum offered free songwriting and essay writing workshops to schools and educators. These anti-bias learning tools taught history, literacy, and the arts for middle school, high school, and homeschool groups.
Every school that participated in a workshop was eligible to receive an anti-bias education grant from a designated fund of $30,000 split evenly between participating schools.
Congratulations to Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple Religious School, Beachwood High School, Charles F. Brush High School, Clark Elementary School, Cleveland Heights High School, Collinwood High School, East Tech High School, Garfield Heights High School, Garfield Middle School, Ginn Academy, Glenville High School, Harding Middle School, Hathaway Brown School, Hudson Middle School, Luis Muñoz Marin School, Mary M. Bethune, Massillon Junior High School , Max S. Hayes High School, Mayfield High School, MC2 STEM High School, Monticello Middle School, Mound STEM School, Newton D. Baker School of Arts, North Canton Middle School, Olmsted Falls High School, Ratner Montessori, Rhodes School of Environmental Studies, Shaw High School, St. Martin de Porres, St. Vincent–St. Mary High School, Twinsburg High School, Wade Park School.
2022 STOP THE HATETEACHERS OF THE YEAR
In addition, with its partners, the Maltz Museum named two Stop the Hate Teachers of the Year. Each received a $1,000 cash prize in recognition of their personal commitment to anti-bias education. Congratulations to Nicole Majercak of Beachwood High School and Vickie Orozco of Newton D. Baker School of Arts.
STOP THE HATEON TOUR
More opportunities are coming up to hear from our eloquent, expressive winning essay writers!
- Mon, April 18, 9:00 am, Youth Speak Out winners interviewed live on ideastream’s The Sound of Ideas. Tune in to Cleveland NPR’s award-winning public affairs show as host Rick Jackson interviews some of the Stop the Hate Listen live on the air at 89.7 WKSU and 104.9 WCPN, or stream it online at www.ideastream.org/live/wksu.
- Tuesday, May 3, and Wednesday, May 4, 7:00 pm. Your Teen Magazine interviews Stop the Hatefinalists via Facebook Live. Access via Your Teen’s Facebook page.
- Thursday, May 12, 12:00 pm, City Club Youth Forum. Join us at the City Club of Cleveland for a special Youth Forum with this year’s Stop the Hate finalists, as they read aloud from their essays and discuss some of the issues facing today’s youth. To livestream the panel, visit https://www.cityclub.org/
- Saturday, June 18, 11:00 am–4:00 pm, Commemoration of Juneteenth. Hear from speakers, including Stop the Hate finalists, from 11am to 12pm, and then enjoy music, mingling & munching in Painesville’s Veterans Park, located at 1 Liberty St, Painesville, OH 44077
Stop the Hate® is made possible by the generous support of:
Presenting Sponsors: Begun Foundation, Dworken & Bernstein; Signature Sponsors: Callahan Foundation, Chelm Family Foundation, Dealer Tire, Dominion Energy Foundation, Harry K. & Emma R. Fox Charitable Foundation, The Lubrizol Foundation, Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, Nordson Corporation Foundation, Saltzman Youth Panel of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Helen F. Stolier and Louis Stolier Family Foundation.
The Maltz Museum is generously supported by: Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, Jewish Federation of Cleveland, and Ohio Arts Council
For more information about Stop the Hate, please contact education@mmjh.org or visit www.maltzmuseum.org/STH .
