In December 2004, the ICJS announced the twenty-seven winners of the Reaching Commong Ground essay contest. The contest, which was America's richest student writing competi-tion, offered $100,000 in grants underwritten by Elizabeth Goldhirsh in memory of her parents. The winning essays, by a remarkable group of young people from many faith traditions and from universities across the United States, were selected by a distinguished panel of scholars from among 3,577 entries -- many of which highlighted sacred texts shared by the Jewish and Christian traditions.

Last April, twelve of the RCG winners were asked to partici-pate in a special conference during which they shared their scholarship with the ICJS staff, educators, theologians, scholars, and each other. The success of the first ICJS Fellows Conference begins what we hope will be a long and rewarding conversation between the Institute and promising new voices in religious scholarship. Two more conferences are scheduled for November 2005 and June 2006 in Baltimore.

The ICJS would particularly like to thank Associate Scholar Janis Koch (for reading and rating every entry) and Admin-istrative Associate Karen Johnson (for formatting and cataloguing each essay). We are also grateful to Roy and Rebecca Hoffberger and the American Visionary Art Museum for hosting the 2005 ICJS RCG Fellows celebration.

Click on the following links to read excerpts from the first- and second-prize-winning essays by Adam Meredith-Ployd and Dorothy Levinson. Click here and here to read the complete texts and lists of sources for these essays. You may also read on our Web site the complete texts of essays by ICJS Fellows Natalie Henderson (Psalm 22: The "Bone of Contention" That Might Just Prove a Source of Accord) and Avi Olitsky (Coming Together Through Jonah).