Seventeen American students in their teens and early twenties won top prizes in the second annual world-wide Torah Essay Contest conducted by the Jewish Agency’s Department for Torah Culture and Education, it was announced here today. The American winners were in competition with some 200 parochial school students in ten countries.
The purpose of the contest, a Jewish Agency spokesman said, was to stimulate interest in the study of sources of Judaism among Jewish youth outside of Israel. The prizes were divided into three categories and consist of sets of valuable religious books. Most prizes in all categories were taken by youngsters from three North African countries. Other countries participating in the contest were Argentina, Belgium, England, Holland, Switzerland and Turkey.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.