Source: PR NewsWire

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/11-15-2004/0002456160&EDATE

On November 15, 2004 PR NewsWire reported, "twenty-two year-old Adam Meredith-Ployd of Atlanta, Georgia has been named the $25,000 Grand Prize winner of the first annual Reaching Common Ground essay contest, the richest student writing competition in America. The contest challenged students 16 to 22 years of age to write an original essay on how Christians and Jews share a common bond --whether through history, faith, or current events. Meredith-Ployd's essay is posted at http://www.ReachingCommonGround.com... Offering a total of $100,000 in prize money, the essay competition was sponsored by Reaching Common Ground, a nonprofit initiative founded and funded by 25-year-old philanthropist Elizabeth Goldhirsh. In keeping with the initiative's mission to foster dialogue and understanding among people of different faiths, Reaching Common Ground partnered with Baltimore's Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies (ICJS), a nonprofit organization that uses education to transcend religious intolerance and promote a more productive relationship between Christians and Jews."