The moment I learned that I had received the first place award, a tornado of meaningful thoughts swirled around my head. Although I was delighted to hear that I had won an award, I was even more joyous to understand that my time and effort for the research that I had spent on the essay had compensated.
At that moment I realized the importance of endeavor; “hard work will always pay off.” This relates to the conflict over Dokdo. In other words, if students and adults from all over the world put in their time to learn more about Dokdo, Koreans will be able to regain their symbol of independence.

Learning about Dokdo will not only give a full understanding of history, but it will also reveal the truth of the dispute between Korea and Japan over the beautiful island. One will not be able to fully understand the significance of Dokdo to Korea until learning about the island’s long history. It is important for the amount effort put into returning Dokdo to Korea’s hands to be a widespread throughout the globe.

As I read my essay to the audience, full of both children and adults, I hoped that it would influence them to continue helping spread the importance of Dokdo to the community. This essay competition has taught me how dedication leads to benefits. I hope that more students will participate in this competition for an opportunity to learn that dedication to fight for Dokdo will eventually lead to success, in other words, the justification of Dokdo as a part of Korea’s land.