Official Rules
Each contestant must be given a copy of the rules and must complete the entry form. The rules contain information about the contest, judging and awards.
Section I - General Rules
1. The Optimist International Essay Contest is divided into three levels of competition: Club, District and International.
2. Contestants must enter through a local Optimist Club or an at-large contest if a local Club is not available.
3. Contestants must compose an original essay with limited guidance from others. Webster’s Dictionary defines an essay as an analytic or interpretive literary composition. Works of fiction or poetry will not be accepted.
4. All District-level contests must have a minimum of 3contestants participating.
5. Optimist International will have the right to edit, publish or otherwise duplicate any essay entered into the contest without payment to the author.
Section II - Qualifications for Contestants
1. The contest is open to students under age 19 as of December 31 of the 2009-2010 school year. (December 31, 2009) Students must enter in the District in which they reside. U.S. students attending school on a military installation outside the United States are eligible to enter in their last home of record. Students residing in non-Districted areas where there are no Optimist Clubs are not eligible for competition
.
2. Contestants are eligible for only one Club’s essay contest during any given year. (October 1st -September 30th).
3. No individual having previously won an Essay scholarship will be eligible to compete at any level of the competition again.
4. All contestants at each level of the contest must furnish a copy of their birth certificate before participating.
Section III - Contest Rules
1. Participants must write on the official contest topic.
2. Each entry must begin with a title page containing: topic, number of words, writer’s name, address, phone number, name of school and date of birth.
3. At the top of page 1 should be the official topic and the number of words (penalty of 2 points for lack of topic and 5 points for failure to identify the total number of words correctly).
4. Essays must be type-written and double-spaced. (Deduction of 5 points)
5. Essays must contain at least 400 words but no more than 500 words. Every word of the essay is counted. This does not include the title, bibliography or footnotes. Hyphenated words count as 1 word.(Deduction of 5 points for each 25 words over/under limit).
6. Each page of the essay must be numbered starting with page 1, not the title page. The numbers must be centered at the bottom of each page.
7. Any quotations or copyrighted material used in the essay must be identified properly. For example, use of a specific writer’s format (such as MLA) may be specified by the instructor overseeing the contest. Failure to identify non-original material will result in disqualification.
8. No reference can be made in the essay that identifies the student, parents, school, community, sponsoring Optimist Club or District. (Deduction of 5 points or fraction based on degree of identification)
9. An essay may be written in either English, French or Spanish if the language used is an official language of the country in which the sponsoring Club is located.
10. The entry must be stapled together in the upper left hand corner. Covers of any type are not accepted.
Section IV – Judging
1. Judging will be completed by a panel of three qualified judges who are not acquainted with the contestants. At the Club level, judges may be Optimist Members. At all other levels of the competition, judges must be non-Optimists.
2. In an effort to conceal the identity of each contestant, each entry will be assigned a number by the Essay Contest Chair. The assigned number will be placed on the title page and page 1 of the essay. The title page will then be detached and retained by the Essay Contest Chair. The judges will be given the essays bearing only the assigned numbers.
3. Judges will not discuss or compare essays being judged.
4. Only judges can assign a penalty or award points.
Section V – Scoring
Scoring procedures at all levels of the contest will be identical.
1. Material Organization – logical interpretation of the subject, adherence to topic: 40 points
2. Vocabulary and Style – phrasing and continuity: 30 points
3. Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 20 points
4. Neatness: 5 points
5. Adherence to Contest Rules – prepared in the proper format: 5 points
Section VI – Penalties
1. Failure to list official topic: 2 points
2. Failure to accurately identify total number of words: 5 points
3. Failure to type essay and double-space: 5 points
4. Failure to stay within the 400-500 word limit: 5 points for each 25 words over/under limit
5. Self-identification: 5 points or fraction of based on degree of identification
Section VII - Awards
1. Club Level – $500, $350 & $150 for First, Second & Third prizes respectively plus Medallion.
2. District level – plaque and a $2,500 college scholarship for the first-place winner
3. International level – First Place: plaque, $6,000 college scholarship
Second Place: plaque, $3,750 college scholarship
Third Place: plaque, $2,250 college scholarship
A.Scholarships are funded by the Optimist International Foundations of the United States and Canada. Scholarships awarded are for use at a college, university or
trade school only.
B. All scholarships will be payable to the educational institution of the recipient’s
choice, subject to the approval of Optimist International.
C. All scholarships will be administered by Optimist International.
D. Scholarships are held for 12 years from the effective date.
The Optimist club of Oakville is pleased to announce its 2009/2010 Essay Contest. The topic this year is “The Internet—Today’s Evolution or Tomorrow’s Menace” and will be of interest to Boys/Girls in grades 7 through 12 and under 19 years of age as at December 31, 2009 Their entries should be no more than 500 words and submitted to the Club by December 31, 2009 in the format specified in the rules & instruction packages available at Oakville Schools and YMCA locations or by downloading from this web page..
A prize schedule of Canada Savings Bonds - $500 first place, $350 second place and $150 for third place will awarded by a team of judges. The first place winner will be entered by the club in the District Optimist contest where a $2,500 scholarship prize will be awarded to the overall winner, who will also be entered in the International Optimist contest where three winners will be awarded scholarships of $6,000, $3,750 and $2,250 for first, second and third places respectively.
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Essay Contest
