The National Family & Community Education (FCE) members in Delaware are sponsoring a nation-wide contest. The contest is based on the characteristic CITIZENSHIP, and we are asking students to write a short essay or short story about this trait.
The contest starts at the county level, where entries will be judged and winners recognized from each county. The first place county entries will be forwarded to the state level. The State FCE Association, will, in turn, judge and recognize winners for the state. The First place state entry will then be judged at the national level. The same judging criteria will be used in all levels of the competition. These include: creativity, content, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, vocabulary, and presentation of the handwriting and the judging criteria outlined below.
The National 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place winners receive a Visa Gift Card or check of $250, $150, $50 respectively.
The State 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place winners receive a Visa Gift Card or check of $30, $20, $15 respectively.
The County 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place winners receive a Visa Gift Card or check of $15, $10, & $5 respectively
Contest criteria are as follows:
- Any 4th grade level student in a public, private, or home school is eligible.
- Entries are to include an essay and a hand drawn picture. Use #2 lead pencil for both. Do not color the picture.
Do not fold the picture.
- Essay and picture should reflect the characteristic
- For drawings, use unlined, white paper approximately 8½” x 11”.
- For essay, use lined, white paper approximately 8½” x 11”. The essay should be a minimum of 50 words.
- Students should write their name, date, his or her teacher’s name, and name of the school, 4-H Club or home school name, on the back of the picture and at the bottom of the essay.
We hope you will join us in striving for excellence in you or your student’s writing and drawing skills and in the understanding of CITIZENSHIP, an essential characteristic. More information may be obtained by contacting the FCE member below. Mail the Essay & Artwork entry as well as Permission Slips (sign in two places) to Charlanne Brown. The address is below.
Entries are due on March 10th 2018 and will only be excepted if they are in the format outlined above. Please also fill out and include the permission slip at the bottom of this post.
Sincerely,
Maria Pippidis
Character Counts Contest
UD New Castle County Extension office
461 Wyoming Rd. Suite 131, Newark, De 19716
A little background:
“CITIZENSHIP ” is one of Six Pillars of Character® CHARACTER COUNTS!® and Six Pillars of Character® are service marks of the CHARACTER COUNTS!® Coalition, a project of Josephson Institute of Ethics. For more information about this project and about citizenship go to: www.charactercounts.org
Delaware Association for Family and Community Education, is an affiliate of the National organization. It is affiliated with UD Cooperative Extension and provides educational and service opportunities for members. Its mission is to strengthen individuals, families and communities through continuing education, developing leadership and community action. They have been a part of Delaware since 1923.
How your essay and artwork will be reviewed. Judges will be looking at the following qualities:
For the DRAWING
- Message
- Creativity
- Execution
For the ESSAY
- Ideas–the main message
- Organization– the internal structure of the piece
- Voice-the personal tone and flavor of the author’s message
- Word Choice– the vocabulary a writer chooses to convey meaning
- Sentence Fluency– the rhythm and flow of the language
- Conventions–the mechanical corrections
- Presentation–how the writing actually looks on the page
For the OVERALL PRESENTATION
- How the drawing & essay support each other