2010 Contest Rules
GENERAL RULES
Contestants must prepare an original essay, in either official language, with limited guidance from teachers, parents and other interested parties.
Any quotations or copyrighted material used in the essay must be identified properly. The contestant shall be fully responsible for the use of such material. Failure to identify non-original material will be penalized.
QUALIFICATIONS
Contestants must be Manitoba high school students enrolled in Grades 9 - 12.
CONTEST RULES
The official subject for all entries in 2010 shall be "Some provinces and the federal government have implemented a fixed election date. However, it has been a parliamentary tradition that the election is called at the discretion of the Premier provincially or the Prime Minister federally.” Do you think a fixed election date is an improvement of our democratic process? Agree or disagree giving your reasons."
Failure to write on the official subject will result in disqualification
Each entry’s title page will consist of the application form and its accompanying information.
Essays shall be typed, double spaced, font size 12. Length shall be a minimum of two full pages and a maximum of three full pages. Penalties will be applied to entries that are less than the minimum or more than the maximum number of pages. References shall be listed on a separate page which is not part of the foregoing restrictions.
In order to conceal the author’s identity, no reference may be made in the essay which identifies the contestant or high school attended.
Each page of the essay must be numbered consecutively starting with the first page of the actual essay (not the title page).
The entire entry, including the title page, should be securely fastened in the upper left hand corner. Covers of any kind are not accepted.
JUDGING
Judging will be carried out by a panel of qualified judges who will individually score the entries. Their combined scoring will determine the winners.
NOTE TO TEACHERS: Should this project be used as a class assignment, the contest administrator asks that only the top three essays in each class be submitted to the judging panel for evaluation.
In order to conceal the identity of each contestant, each entry will be assigned a number by the essay contest administrator. The assigned number will be placed on the title page containing the contestant’s personal information and on the first page of the essay. The original essay will be retained by the essay contest administrator. Judges will be given copies of the essays identified only by the assigned number.
SCORING
Scoring procedure will conform to the following point system, as revised for 2010:
|
|
|
value |
| Introduction (a brief statement of the argument) |
|
|
3 |
Proper use of language (including grammar,
punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, etc) |
|
|
6 |
| Original thinking and/or evidence research |
|
|
6 |
| Material organization (development of the argument) |
|
|
5 |
| Quality of expression (clarity, composition creativity) |
|
|
4 |
| Conclusion |
|
|
3 |
| TOTAL |
|
|
27 |
In the event of a tie the affected essays will be re-evaluated.
AWARDS
Contest winners will receive the following cash awards:
1st - $500.00
2nd -$300.00
3rd - $200.00
Essay contest winners will be announced in conjunction with Youth Parliament held in the Manitoba Legislature at the end of each calendar year.
SPECIAL NOTE:
No essay will be used for political, commercial, or private enterprise. Prize winning essays will be retained for archival purposes. All others will be shredded.
--- APPLICATION ---