Oakseed Ministries International is proud to announce their seventh annual international essay contest for youth on the topic: Compassion and the Illiterate Child. Students are invited to explore the issues facing child illiteracy and to offer innovative ideas to help these children.

According to UNICEF, almost a billion people in our world are unable to read or even sign their names. Over 130 million children in the developing world have little to no education provided for them. More than 50 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is illiterate. What is even more appalling is that young women represent two-thirds of the world’s illiterate.

Dr. Edward Bradley, President of Oakseed Ministries International, says “To deny a child the opportunity to read is like locking an adult in solitary confinement for a lifetime.”

Oakseed is also hosting an interactive website for youth that is designed to help young people to think critically about the issue of child illiteracy. The website will feature insights from experts on the illiterate child as well as interactions with other sites focusing on the pandemic of childhood illiteracy. The interactive website is located at www.oakseedessaycontest.com.

The deadline for the essay contest is May 1, 2012. First place, second place and honorable mention prizes will be awarded for the amounts of $1000, $500, and $250. The two age categories are 17 & Under and 18-22. To read the complete guidelines for the 2012 Essay Contest on Compassion and the Illiterate Child or to submit your essay, visit www.oakseedessaycontest.com. Guidelines are also available by emailing essay@oakseed.org or calling (toll free) 877-876-9020.

Submitted essays are not clinical assessments of child illiteracy, but personal responses to the crisis of the illiterate child. The essay is a part of a yearlong effort to raise awareness of the plight of illiterate children that will culminate in the Annual Day of Prayer for Children at High Risk on Sunday, June 3rd, 2012.