George and Stella Knight Historical
Essay Contest
Eligibility:
This
contest is open to all students residing in
Topic, Research, and Length:
The contest
is for an original researched and proven topic written in
English. The topic of the essay shall deal with either:
-
an
event, person, philosophy, or ideal associated with the American Revolution,
the Declaration of Independence, or the framing of the United States
Constitution or
-
some aspect of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Supreme Court as
applied to current times. Essays which explore specific Supreme Court rulings are
acceptable.
Students
must source at least five (5) references with the minimum of three being
published book sources to allow for verification of sources if
necessary. References from Encyclopedias or Internet sites will be
accepted, but are not considered as part of the three published book
sources. If there are no book sources (i.e. all are from
encyclopedias or internet sources) the essay will be disqualified. Extra consideration will be given to entries
which reference original source material.
There are
no length restrictions.
Essay Format and Documentation:
The essay
shall have three parts: a) title page, b) essay, and c) bibliography (works
cited). The bibliography shall be listed on a separate page. Information on the title page shall include
the title of the essay, contestant's name, address, telephone number, email
address (if available) and grade level and the name, address, and telephone
number of the high school in which the contestant is enrolled.
The essay
shall be documented in accordance with the Modern Language Association
publication, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers or Turabain's,
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Graphics are
not permitted.
Submitting an Essay:
Entries may
be submitted via post or email.
Postal
entries must be postmarked on or prior to
Knight Essay Chairman
Entries
submitted via email should be sent as an attachment in Microsoft Word format.
The subject of the email should read, “Knight Essay Entry”.
Email the
essay to: sar-essay@hotmail.com
Judging Criteria and Rules
Interpretations:
The essay
will be judged on historical accuracy, clarity of thought, the strength of the
thesis and proof, organization and flow, grammar and spelling, and
documentation. Participants in this contest agree that the interpretation of
rules and the decisions of the NSSAR, the FLSSAR and its judges shall govern
without reservation.
Awards:
National Society: (amounts are
subject to change)
Second Place: $1,000.00
Third Place: $500.00
Publication Permission:
Participants
in this contest agree that their essays may be published in the publications
and websites of the Florida Society, and National Society. It is the intent of
the Florida Society to publish on its website all entries submitted to this
contest.
Entry into the National Society
Contest
Usually,
the winning essay in the Florida Society contest will automatically be entered
into the National Society contest. However, the National contest has more
restrictive rules than the Florida Contest, including a narrower list of
acceptable topics, and in some cases it may not be possible to make the winning
essay conform to these rules. Upon notification, the winning student will be
given the opportunity to make alterations to the work in order to conform to
the National contest rules. If this is not possible for some reason, the State
Committee reserves the right offer the opportunity to enter the National
Contest to the second place essay. Should neither essay be suitable for entry,
the State Committee will proceed through the other entries in order of finish
until a qualifying essay can be submitted to the National Contest. You can find
the National Rules here.