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Accepting Submissions: Sadat Poetry and Music for Justice and Peace Competitions

Awards offered to students for original poems and music.

The Sadat Prize is now closed. Details for the 2025 Sadat Prize will be announced in the next academic year.

Arts for All is pleased to announce the Inaugural Sadat Poetry and Music for Justice and Peace Competitions, held in collaboration with the Sadat Art for Justice and Peace Competition.

Students who meet the requirements for the Poetry and Music competitions are invited to submit original works based on the following quote:

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. 
It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.

Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass, 1860

Sadat Poetry for Justice and Peace Competition

Requirements 

Students are invited to submit a single unpublished poem that responds to the theme as expressed in the above quote. To be eligible, students must either be a declared English major (undergraduate or graduate, including MFAs, MAs and PhDs), a declared Creative Writing minor; be currently enrolled in an English Department creative writing class or a current member of the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House. 

Poem Length: No longer than 2 pages.

Awards
  • 1st Place Prize: $1250.00
  • 2nd Place Prize: $750.00
Submission Instructions
  • Submissions should be made via this Google Form.
  • Submissions should not include the student’s name within the document or in the document name; submissions with identifying information will be disqualified.
  • Poems in other languages are welcome if they are accompanied by an English translation. 
  • All submissions must be the student’s original work and previously unpublished. 
  • Materials should be submitted as PDF.
  • Complete submissions due by March 26, 2024 at 5PM.
  • Questions can be sent to arts@umd.edu.

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Authors of the winning poem will be recognized and read their poem at a luncheon on Wednesday, April 10, 2024.

Winners will be added to the Sadat Poetry for Justice and Peace Permanent Collection. The Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development and the University of Maryland will have the right to display and reproduce the poem, with credit given to the writer. The Writer shall also retain ownership and rights to use and reproduce the poem. Past competition-winners in the art prize have been awarded to Sadat Lecturers at UMD including Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, and others. 


Sadat Music for Justice and Peace Competition

Undergraduate and graduate students who are currently enrolled in a degree program in the UMD School of Music are invited to submit in one of two categories:

Requirements

Awarded to a composer for a composition written for 2 - 6 musicians that addresses the year’s given theme. Submission of a complete score is required. A MIDI or acoustic recording is highly recommended, though not required. A statement (one double-spaced page, maximum) describing how the submission addresses the year’s given theme is required. The composition should be no more than 8 minutes and ideally 3 - 5 minutes in length. Consultation with your private teacher is required.

Award

Winner’s Prize: $1250.00 to be awarded to the composer and a new professional audio and video recording of the composition with the performers, identified by the winning composer, compensated for the recording and live-performance at the award luncheon.

Requirements

Awarded for a performance of an existing composition written for 2 - 6 musicians that addresses the year’s given theme. An audio recording is required. A statement (one double-spaced page, maximum double) describing how the submission addresses the year’s given theme is required. The composition should be no more than 8 minutes and ideally 3 - 5 minutes in length. Consultation with a studio teacher or chamber music coach is required.

Awards
  • 1st Place Prize: $1250.00 to be divided amongst student performers and a new professional audio and video recording of the performance
  • 2nd Place Prize: $750.00 divided amongst student performers 
Submission Instructions

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Winners will perform their submissions at a luncheon on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. 

Recordings of the winners will be added to the Sadat Music for Justice and Peace Permanent Collection. The Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development and the University of Maryland will have the right to continue to utilize the recordings, with credit given to the students. Recordings will be featured on the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development and Arts for All websites.  For the composition category, the composer shall retain ownership and rights to use and reproduce the composition and recording.  Composers are asked to acknowledge the Sadat Music for Justice and Peace Prize in future performances and publications. 


Sadat Art for Justice and Peace Competition

Please note that the deadline for new submissions to the Sadat Art for Justice and Peace Competition has passed.

Requirements
  • Any medium, 2D or 3D piece.
  • Must be a declared Studio Arts or Immersive Media Design major (Undergraduate or Graduate) OR currently enrolled in a Department of Arts course.
  • All works submitted must be ready for installation. It is not necessary that pieces be framed but they must be ready for display. For example, paintings should be wired in the reverse of the stretcher frame, allowing them to be hung from picture hooks.
  • The artist is responsible for transporting the artwork to the Herman Maril Gallery at the designated drop-off time and, if the piece is not selected for first place, collecting the piece from the gallery after the Sadat Art for Justice and Peace Exhibition.
Awards
  • 1st Place Prize of $2,500 
  • 2nd Place Prize of $1,000
  • 3rd Place Prize of $750
  • Honorable Mention Prize of $250
Deadlines
  1. Intent to Submit Artwork form deadline: February 23, 4:30PM
  2. The artist's statement and a photo of the artwork must be submitted by March 1, 4:30PM.
  3. Please drop off the artwork at the Herman Maril Art Gallery on February 29 from 10AM-4:30PM or March 1 from 10AM-4:30PM.

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First Place artwork will be kept and added to the Sadat Art for Justice and Peace Permanent Collection. The Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland will have the right to keep and display the artwork as well as reproduce the art and images of the art, with credit given to the artist. The artist shall also retain the rights to use and reproduce the artwork. Past artwork has been awarded to Sadat Lecturers at UMD including Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, and others.
 

Learn more and apply to the Sadat Art Prize
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