Winners of 7th annual Peace Essay Contest to be announced Aug. 27

Five-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize David Swanson will give the keynote address at the Peace Essay Awards Luncheon of the West Suburban Faith-based Peace Coalition (WSFPC) at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27, at Abbington Distinctive Banquets in Glen Ellyn. At that time, winners of the 7th annual Peace Essay Contest sponsored by WSFPC will be announced.

Swanson, an author, activist, journalist and radio host, will discuss “10 Ways We Pretend War Is Not a Crime and How to Change Them.” He is the recipient of the 2018 Peace Prize awarded by the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation and serves as director of World Beyond War, a global nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace. Swanson also is campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org, an initiative dedicated to galvanizing people committed to economic fairness, equal rights for all, civil liberties, environmental protection and defunding endless wars.

Books authored by Swanson include “War Is a Lie,” a catalogue of types of falsehoods regularly told about wars; “War Is Never Just,” a refutation of the just war theory; and “When the World Outlawed War,” an account of the 1920’s peace movement and the creation of the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact that outlawed war.

It was Swanson’s book “When the World Outlawed War” that served as the genesis for the WSFPC Peace Essay Contest. Frank Goetz, contest coordinator and president of WSFPC, read Swanson’s book and was inspired to establish the competition to commemorate and promote awareness of the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact.

U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand signed the document for their respective countries on Aug. 27, 1928. Eventually, 63 nations signed the pact, making it the most ratified treaty in history at the time.

WSFPC holds its annual essay awards luncheon on August 27, the anniversary date of the signing of the pact in 1928. Competition prizes include a $1,000 award to the author of the winning essay, $300 to the runner-up, and $100 to the third-place winner.

WSFPC is an initiative of faith-based peace makers from Chicago's western suburbs and the general Chicago area. WSFPC includes clergy, congregations, other peace organizations and more. WSFPC is committed to sustaining the work of peace through activities such as vigils, public witness, peace education, lobbying/legislative initiatives, and interfaith dialogue. It is an affiliate of Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and donations are tax deductible.