Announcing… The 2023 WINNERS!
Celebrating African & African American Muslim History Contest
This contest, now in its second year, was created by ISLA to encourage students and adults alike to learn more about the rich contributions of African and African American Muslims throughout time and place.
The 2023 contest went to another level, with a 300% increase in participation, mashallah! Further, MuslimKidsTV, a sponsor of the contest, will be animating or illustrating the winning submissions so that they can be made further available to a global audience. Some winners will also receive internships with the Muslim media megahouse, which we hope will help develop a new generation of content creators that can spread beneficial knowledge even further.
If you missed the Award Ceremony, we encourage you to catch the replay! Further, we want you to explore the winning submissions, each of which were checked for plagiarism and judged by two judges against a rigorous rubric.
Missed the Award Ceremony? Catch the replay!
Drumroll… Announcing The Winners!!
|
Grade |
Place |
Student Winner |
Subject |
School |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
8 |
1st Place |
Mumin Abdul Qadeer |
|
|
|
8 |
2nd Place |
Azeeza Hirji |
|
|
|
8 |
3rd Place |
Noor Saleh |
|
|
|
7 |
1st Place |
Afrah Haider |
|
|
|
7 |
2nd Place |
Rayyan Yaqoob |
|
|
|
7 |
3rd Place |
Juhi Naeema |
|
|
|
6 |
1st Place |
Khadija Serir |
|
|
|
6 |
2nd Place |
Isani P Abdus-Samad |
|
Homeschool |
|
6 |
3rd Place |
Nora Iftikhar |
|
|
|
6 |
Honorable Mention |
Taahirah Khan |
|
2023 AAAMH Contest: By The Numbers
- 398 student submission
- 44 schools
- 19 states
- 40 judges
- 6-7 hours spent by each judge examining student work
- 9 Sponsors
- And… 100s of hours planning + developing the contest
AAAMH Judge Feedback
“I was impressed with the students’ creativity. Also, I was impressed with their choices. I’ve learned a lot about some of the African Muslims that I’ve never known.” – Judge
“I didn’t know that Summayah, the first martyr in Islam, was Abyssinian or that Muhammad Ali refused to have a hollywood star because he didn’t want anyone stepping on our Messenger’s name–SubhanAllah :)” – Judge
“I learned about muslim trailblazers that I had not heard of and was educated with more hindsight of some of our great heroes in Islam. I am very proud of the participants!” – Judge
Student Take-Aways
“Something unexpected that I learned from my research for this project was that there are many Muslims that highly influence the world around us, but have little-to-no recognition… One other thing that I have unexpectedly noticed was that many of the African and African-American Muslims I’ve researched were activists as they fought or are still fighting for equal rights as a complete human society.” – 6th Grader
“How much black muslims alive have contributed our society. There are hundreds if not thousands of African American muslims that made a change, this was really influencing and unexpected because of the vast amount of contributions.” -7th Grader
“After reading about Halima [Aden]’s life, even my perspective on the world changed. I don’t have to be like everyone else to succeed in this world. I just have to be myself, and that is 100% enough.” -8th Grader
Prizes
MuslimKidsTV is a major sponsor for this year’s contest, and will be presenting each winner with the following amazing options:
-
- Animate the project and e-publish on the MuslimKidsTV platform
OR
-
- receive an unpaid internship to develop an e-book on the life of a major African or African-American Muslim
Note of Appreciation
We would like to appreciate the students, judges, schools, community members, including our AAAMH Advisory Committee, who made this event happen.
A special note of thanks to the nine organizations who provided sponsorships for this year’s contest, and allowed us to organize the contest with no registration fees, THANK YOU:
