WESTPORT — The topic of this year’s Teen Diversity Essay Contest, sponsored by TEAM Westport, the town’s multicultural advocacy committee, is, “The Dialogue Challenge: Effective Engagement on Race, Ethnicity, Religion and LGBTQIA+.”

The essay contest, now in its tenth year, is open to all local high school students who attend classes in Westport and those who live in town but attend school elsewhere. The contest is co-sponsored by the Westport Library.

Entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, according to contest guidelines. Subject to the volume and caliber of entries received, at the discretion of the judges, up to three cash prizes will be awarded — first prize is $1,000, second prize is $750 and third prize is $500.

For more information about this year’s contest, and to download the entry form, click here for the TEAM Westport page on the town’s website.

Submitted essays of 1,000 words or less should explore the writer’s interactions with people who have different racial, ethnic, religious and/or LGBTQIA+ identities and/or perspectives, contest organizers say. Essays also should focus on how those experiences may have changed the writer’s mind or led to a better understanding of others, organizers suggest.

And writers are encouraged to propose steps that “individuals, schools and/or town entities in Westport [can] take to promote good-faith dialogue, reduce bias and foster understanding.”

In previous years, the contest’s essay topics have included “Why It Can Be So Difficult To Talk About Race,” “White Privilege,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Micro-Aggressions” and “Stereotypes,” which have provoked discussion — and controversy — in town and beyond.

“With the controversy and misinformation surrounding dialogues on diversity, equity and inclusion from national to local levels, there is nothing more important than what works for effective connection and genuine understanding,” Harold Bailey, Jr., chairman of TEAM Westport, said in a publicity statement for the essay contest.

“Now at the advent of our first decade of the Teen Diversity Essay Contest, TEAM Westport welcomes the opportunity for Westport youth to weigh in on this critical question.”