Application

Eligibility:

  • Grades: Students in Grades 9-12, Residing in the U.S.

  • Language: English

  • Length of Speech: 4- 6 minutes (Maximum 1,400 Words)

process:

  • All applicants must submit an Application to Participate by the stated deadline.

  • Early submission of manuscripts is encouraged. Applicants who submit a manuscript by January 15, 2024 will be invited to a writing workshop and will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit your manuscript by the deadline of February 19, 2024.

  • All manuscripts must be submitted by February 19, 2024

  • For more details, please visit https://www.kscholarship.org/

Awards & Scholarships:   

  • Grand Award: $1,500                              

  • 1st Place: $1,200                                      

  • 2nd Place (2 awards): $1,000                 

  • 3rd Place(3 awards): $500

  • Manuscript Award (2 awards): $500

  • Finalists: $200

Inquiries:

  • website: http://www.kscholarship.org

  • e-mail: speech@kscholarship.org

  • text/phone: 734-657-6951/ 631-513-5438

Hosts & Sponsoring Organizations

  • Kyung-Uhn Scholarship Association

  • Kyunggi Girls’ High School AA of Greater NY

  • The Korea Society

Supporting Organizations

  • Korean American Association of Greater New York

    Korean American Educators’ Association of New Jersey

    Korean American Teachers’ Association of New York

    K-12 Korean Language Teachers Association, USA

2024 Speech Contest Theme:

The Korean War

In the early morning of June 25, 1950, the North Korean People’s Army invaded South Korea, crossing the 38th parallel, the line dividing North and South Korea since the end of the World War II. President Truman quickly committed the US military to the aid of South Korea and the United Nations joined the effort to defend South Korea against communist North Korea. The war lasted three years and active fighting concluded with an armistice agreement in 1953. The war never officially ended, and the confrontation continues to this day.

During the Korean War, nearly 5 million people died and more than half of these were civilians. Many Korean families were separated, lost, and displaced. Even with efforts to reunite families, many still remain missing and wait to be reunited.

Currently, tension on the Korean peninsula remains high. North Korea has declared itself a nuclear weapon state and aggressive actions and threats by the North have continued since 1953.

Please study Korean War and think about the impact it has had on Korea, the US, and on the world, as well as the impact it has had on ordinary Koreans.

Korean War

You may select a group or groups in the world and discuss the following points in your speech.

1. How and why did the Korean War start?

2. How did the Cold War and other external forces affect the start of the war?

3. Why did American and UN forces intervene? Why did Chinese forces? How did foreign intervention

affect the outcome of the war?

4. What have been the long-term impacts of the Korean War on those who were there? How have

Korean and UN veterans been affected? How has this affected Korean families? Was your family

affected?

5. What have you learned from studying the Korean War? How does it affect you? Does it affect your

perspective on current international conflicts?

#5 is required and one or more of the rest of the questions
should be addressed in your manuscript.