Local essay contest asks, What is the greatest good you can do?

Billy Huntsman, Managing Editor

 

Members of Doña Ana County, ages 18 to 30, are invited to write and submit 300-word essays in order to be considered for cash prizes.

The Windsor-Hermsmeier Gifting Fund is offering prizes of $500, $250, and $125 for the best essays concerning the prompt: what is the great good I can do in my life?

The contest is “in honor of Miguel Gabriel Silva, former Las Cruces city councilor (who died earlier this year) who helped enrich the soul of Las Cruces and Mesilla by promoting community well-being,” says a flyer promoting the contest.

The rules for the contest are: 300 words maximum, must be written by hand, describing your idea of “the greatest good” you can do in your life and how it can benefit the world, and what three actions will help you achieve your “greatest good.”

Also, on a second piece of paper, participants are asked to list their top three “bucket list” experiences/goals—what three things must you do before you die?

“Judging is based on neatness, legibility, grammar, content, sincerity, and reasonableness of ideas,” the flyer says.

Essays must be postmarked by May 15, 2016, to:

The Windsor-Hermsmeier Gifting Fund

P.O. Box 121, Las Cruces, NM 88004

Further inquiries can be made at [email protected].

The Windsor-Hermsmeier Gifting Fund is managed by a Dr. and Mr. Windsor and Hermsmeier based out of Susanville, California, according to Susanville’s Lassen County Times, where in May 2014 a similar essay contest took place.

Windsor and Hermsmeier “are interested in promoting community well being in the honor of their parents. Harold and Varonika Windsor, Walter and Dorothy Hermsmeier were dedicated to American societal values of hard work, education, dedication to family and also art as values of a community,” the newspaper placement reads.

The current Windsor is a doctor at High Desert State Prison, while the current Hermsmeier is a retired machine operator and property manager, the newspaper says.

Their fathers were World War II veterans, while their mothers were “dedicated homemakers,” the newspaper says.

Facebook Comments