2004 Doors to Diplomacy Awards Announced

The Department of State is pleased to announce the selection of two winning Web sites for its 2004 Doors to Diplomacy Award. The awards recognize the Web sites that best teach about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy. A total of 183 student teams from 27 countries, ranging in age from 15-18, participated in the contest, which was co-sponsored by the Department of State and Global SchoolNet.

The winning sites are:

U.S. Diplomatic History: What If?  This site was created by a team from Oswego, New York. Their site pairs five past U.S. Presidents with diplomatic issues from other eras to see how these Presidents might have dealt with them.

Terrorism, The Biggest Challenge for Diplomacy.  This site was developed by a team of students from Mexico. The site addresses some recent major attacks and explores the role of diplomacy in reducing such incidents.

Each student member of the winning Doors to Diplomacy Award teams will receive a $2,000 scholarship and a trip to Washington, DC this spring, where they will receive a private tour of the State Department facilities, meet with key officials, and participate in a special award presentation ceremony. In addition, the winning coaches and schools will each receive a $500 cash award.

Judging was performed by peers and educational professionals, with the final selections made by a State Department official in its Bureau of Public Affairs.

The winning sites will be linked from the State Department’s youth site at www.future.state.gov later this month. Global SchoolNet  is a not-for-profit, Internet-based education program. The Doors to Diplomacy Award was specially created for Cyberfair, a contest that encourages students and educators to join together to build high-quality, educational Web sites on a variety of topics. These Web site entries will be available on the web as learning tools to millions of people around the globe.

2004/510