This year’s Dorchester Day Essay Contest, sponsored by The Reporter in partnership with the Dot Day Parade Committee, invited students in grades 6-8 to reflect on the neighborhood’s history, future, and new ways to celebrate Boston’s biggest and most diverse neighborhood.
A panel of judges from The Reporter and the Forry Foundation for Community Journalism reviewed the entries submitted by April 24, and after careful consideration finalized our top three choices on May 8. It was not an easy decision as there were many strong entrants and every young participant’s work had merit and featured great ideas.
First-place honors went to Quinton Vo, whose essay on “Waterfront & Climate Future” imagined Dorchester’s 400th anniversary as both a celebration and a call to action. Read it here.
Scarlett Burke, also a Murphy School sixth grader, earned second place for her essay focused on Dorchester’s 400th anniversary. Read it here!
Third place was a tie that went to the Novoa brothers, Mikey and Jake, who are no doubt familiar with that dynamic. The twins, who are sixth graders at Pope John Paul II Academy-Neponset, delivered essays that lifted up their experiences growing up in Dorchester. Read their essays here.
The winning essays are printed in this week’s Reporter. We’re excited to share them with our readers, and we are grateful to all of the participants in this contest.
