A Voice for Animals

A Voice for Animals High School Essay Contest

Each January, the Humane Education Network holds its annual A Voice for Animals high school essay contest.

The contest is co-sponsored in part this year by the Animal Welfare Institute and the Palo Alto Humane Society.

For filmmakers, the Palo Alto Humane Society is running its Humane Planet Film Contest concurrently with our essay contest. Rules etc. here.

Congratulations to our 2010 contest winners!

H.E.N. does not condone any form of animal suffering. We strive to discover solutions to mitigate animal suffering. Small steps are often necessary to achieve the ideal goal of ending pain and distress altogether.

Best Personal & Active Involvement	Jennifer Yost	Parrot Rehabilitation Journey
1st Prize	Lauren Gilbert	New York City's Shame: The Carriage Horse Industry
2nd prize	Sara Corben	Xenotransplantation
3rd Prize	Tiffany Wang	Sushi Slaughter
1st Prize (15-16 year old)	Kimberly Hanson	The Tragedy behind Foie Gras
2nd Prize (15-16 year old)	Robert Born	Modern Slaves: the Secret Life of Circus Elephants
3rd Prize (15-16 year old)	Clayton Suplinski	Tapirs: On the Brink of Extinction
Best Essay by a 14 Year Old	Morgan Zerkle	The Influence of the Macaw
Overseas Prize	Yosra Alterkawi	A Sad Reality: CATastrophes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
An Essay We Couldn't Ignore	Melis Borovali	Fighting Against Fate
An Essay We Couldn't Ignore	Stephanie Bryan	Man's Best Friend Poisoned with Strychnine or Shot
An Essay We Couldn't Ignore	Justine Dover	The Ozark Hellbender: No longer found under the rocks
Africa Prize	Megan Dixon	Bullfighting and its Many Evils
Honorable Mention (Involvement)	Erin Calhoon	Hear Them
Honorable Mention (Involvement)	Mackenzie Robert	Vested Determination
Honorable Mention (Involvement)	Andy Wang	The Reviver
Honorable Mention	Alexandra Durst	Salmon For The Salish
Honorable Mention	Amanda La Rue	Matador Mastery or Merciless Mutilation? The So-Called "Art" of Bullfighting and its Barbaric Truths
Honorable Mention	Sara Redd	Acidosis in American Cattle: Possible Solutions to a Corn-Rich Diet
Honorable Mention (15-16 year old)	Kaitlin Deutsch	Trapped in Suffering: The Cruelty and Alternatives to Steel-Jawed Leghold Traps
Honorable Mention (15-16 year old)	Mary Kate Koch	Lonely Waters: the Decline of Northwest Salmon
Honorable Mention (15-16 year old)	Alexis Schilf	Testing on Animals Breaks More Than Hearts

Previous winners

Select a winning essay and click the Read Essay button. The essay will open as a PDF file in another window.
(Essays shown in gray are not currently available online.)

Contest FAQ

No. This is an essay contest with a set of rules and cash prizes. We advertise the contest on scholarship web sites to reach the largest number of eligible high school students.

The dates are usually announced on our web site mid-December after the judges have finalized the rules. The contest usually opens for entries in January and closes in March with results being announced in May.

Essays are accepted only between the contest opening and closing dates. The online form for submitting essays does not appear on this page until the contest opens.

Your essay must be submitted online using a form which appears on this page only while the contest is open for entries. Essays sent to us in any other way (e.g. e-mail or via the postal service) will simply be discarded.

Questions about the essay contest may be sent to contest@hennet.org. E-mail to any other address will not necessarily receive a response.