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As the Pulitzer Center embarks on our second year of partnering with the Boy Scouts of America’s Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, we are launching an essay contest for scouts coming to the ranch in 2016. The winner will travel to Central Asia at the end of this summer for an unforgettable two-day hike with two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and National Geographic Fellow Paul Salopek.
Salopek is in the midst of his Out of Eden Walk, a 21,000-mile, seven-year (or more) odyssey retracing humanity’s migration from Africa.
Drawing inspiration from Salopek’s Out of Eden Walk, Philmont scouts are invited to submit thoughtful, reflective essays of no more than 500 words that show how they apply the lessons of “slow journalism” in their personal journeys. Scouts are asked to explain why is it important to slow down, walk more, put down cell phones and be more observant on their everyday travels. Scouts are encouraged to provide specific moments from their own journeys that illustrate their answers.
Only one essay may be submitted from a crew of scouts, and the submission deadline is June 1, 2016.
Applicants can access the contest form. More information about the contest is available on the Pulitzer Center website.
Philmont Scout Ranch is the Boy Scouts of America's largest national High Adventure Base. Its 34 staffed camps and 55 trail camps provide adventure in the high country along hundreds of miles of rugged, rocky trails.