High School Essay Contest
NATCHITOCHES – The fifth annual Northwestern State University Louisiana High School Essay Contest is open for submissions until June 15. The essay contest is open to all Louisiana students in grades 9-12 regardless of type of school institution, including students in all types of private educational environments, as well as home schooled students. The theme of this year’s essay is “Preserving Louisiana.” Topics for essays might appropriately include the conservation of natural resources, cultural and heritage preservation, environmental preservation or restoration, genealogy and ancestry awareness, language preservation, preservation awareness and recycling.
All essays must be approximately 500 –1,250 words, should have titles, and should be typed (double spaced, 12 point font, standard margins). Entries should include a cover sheet with the student’s name, school affiliation, mailing address, phone number, e-mail address and the title of their entry. Entries may be submitted via e-mail to Dr. Shane Rasmussen, rasmussens@nsula.edu or mailed to the Louisiana Folklife Center, NSU Box 3663, Natchitoches, LA 71497. “2013 NSU Louisiana High School Essay Contest” should be the subject line of e-mails. Prize winning students will be notified by July 31.
The prizes for the Contest winners are $150, first place, $100 second place and $50 third place. In addition, the three winning essayists will each receive a $200/per semester NSU scholarship with a value up to $1,600 for four years. This award is in addition to other scholarship awards that the student may receive from Northwestern State University. To be eligible, essay winners must submit a complete scholarship application packet to the university by Dec. 1 of their senior year. Winners must also have at least a 20 ACT composite or 950 on the SAT, as well as at least a 2.0 GPA to be eligible. Essay winners need to submit proof of the award.
Winning essayists will be invited to read their paper at the fifth annual Louisiana Studies Conference at Northwestern State on Saturday, Sept. 21. The top three winning entries will also be published in the Louisiana Folklife Journal. Submission of an entry to the Contest entails granting permission to publish the essay in the Louisiana Folklife Journal. Entries may be subject to minor revision prior to publication. For further information, please see the website for the Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State at louisianafolklife.edu.
The NSU Louisiana High School Essay Contest is sponsored by the NSU Department of Fine + Graphic Arts, the Folklife Society of Louisiana, the Louisiana Folklife Center, the NSU Writing Project and the College of Arts, Letters, Graduate Studies and Research.
