February
2007
MPV Announces Malcolm X Khutbah Competition
MPV is proud to announce the first annual Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) Khutbah Competition.
Please see below for entry guidelines. Submit an entry, or help support the competition by:
- Submitting the press release and submission guidelines to your masjid, Islamic society, or MSA newsletter, or to local Islamic newspapers.
- Encouraging people in your community – including your imam, local writers or thinkers, your chaplain – to participate
- Forwarding the press release to your local newspaper as the basis for a human interest story about Muslims promoting civic engagement and excellence within the mosque setting (in contrast to some of the inflammatory sermons we’ve recently heard about delivered at some British mosques).
- Donating to the khutbah competition fund (to donate via paypal, click here)
- Asking your imam to use the winning khutbahs in upcoming juma prayers
Entry Guidelines
The competition opens February 15th, 2007; Final Deadline to submit entries is May 15th, 2007
Winners will be announced June 15th, 2007, at the MPV Conference.
Sermon entries for the year 2007 should describe ways in which Muslims can apply Islamic principles to better our world, country, communities, and the lives of family, friends, and others. Special consideration will be given to sermons which demonstrate how North American Muslims, individually or collectively, can take leadership roles in long-term civic engagement efforts. The focus should be on turning hope and good intentions into practical action, with the goal of making Islamic principles come alive to solve problems and move the Muslim community and our societies to a better place. All khutbahs should be between 3000 and 7500 words (approximately 20-40 minutes delivery time), and must be written in English. Qur’an and hadith may be quoted in Arabic, although it is not required. If Arabic is used, translation should be provided. Use of technical language from fiqh and theology, Arabic phrases, and other jargon should be kept to a minimum.The competition is open to all Muslims, of any race, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, and religious affiliation (sunni, shii, sufi, etc). While imams and chaplains are encouraged to submit entries, no official position, title, or educational background is required of contestants. Judging will be upon the merits of the khutbah, not the merits of the writer.All identifying information (including name, gender, age, ethnicity, and contact information) will be stripped from the written entries before being sent to the judges or being posted on the competition website to ensure a fair competition. In the juried competition, each khutbah will be given 1-5 points in five categories:
- content (including clarity, organization, understandability)
- use of Qur’an and/or hadith
- rhetoric/strength of argument
- emotional appeal
- relevance to the North American context
Thus, there will be a maximum of 25 points from each judge, or 100 points total. The khutbah receiving the highest cumulative marks will be the winner.
In the people’s choice award, readers will rate each khutbah on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the best, 10 being the worst). Each khutbah will be ranked according to the average of all scores received. In the event of a tie, the khutbah with the largest readership among those who received the top marks will be deemed the winner.
Entries should be in Times New Roman, 12 point, double spaced, and with at least 1 inch margins on all sides. All entries should include a cover sheet with a title for the khutbah, author’s name, address, phone number, and email. Only title, with no personal identifying information, should be on the subsequent pages of the khutbah itself.
Submission to this competition constitutes agreement on the part of the author that the submitted khutbah may be posted on the People’s Choice website and may be included in any compilation/publication of winning entries.
Email all entries, inquiries to the competition coordinator Ani Zonneveld at ani@mpvusa.org.