1) What is a prize?

2) What does a prize bring about?

3) What is the fundamental meaning of wining prizes?

▇ Sample essay 2:

In today’s society, competitions, contests and games are held virtually every day and everywhere. These activities put the participants into two categories: winners and losers. As symbols of public recognition, prizes are awarded to those who mount the winners’ stand.

A prize brings about fame, prestige and good fortune. Winners are constantly in the spotlight and attract admiring attention. Their friends and colleagues come to congratulate them and their families take pride in them. More often than not, prizes simultaneously bring wealth to the winners as in the case of an Olympic gold medal or a Nobel Prize. Therefore, winners harvest both a good reputation and material rewards.

However, this is not the essential meaning of wining a prize. Winners are worthy of respect, admiration and good fortune because they embody some outstanding qualities that are worthy of a prize: perseverance, diligence and optimism. An athlete undergoes years of training and takes hundreds of highly demanding challenges before he steps onto that podium; a writer becomes popular overnight after he has spent years writing relentlessly in poverty and anonymity. What’s more, optimism in the face of adversity also contributes a lot to their success. They believe in themselves and have great passion for what they are engaged in. They endeavor to do their best, enjoying the process of fighting well. Therefore, the fundamental meaning of winning a prize does not merely lie in the rewarding fame or wealth, but in the process of presenting the best part of oneself.

(249 words)

5