For Schools
School-Based Competitions: Promoting Contests
Promoting an essay, photo, or poster contest enables Law Day planners to teach students and the public about the significance of Law Day themes and ideas. It also allows you to recognize talented writers, photographers and artists and to engender enthusiasm about the democratic ideals of the country.
Following are general guidelines for promoting contests. Don't forget to check out Conducting Contests for action steps.
Essay Contest: Participation & Criteria
- Determine the target ages or school grades of contestants participating in the essay contest. You might want to target this to sixth or seventh graders.
- Select an essay topic.
- Establish requirements for the essay. Make sure the rules for the essay are clear regarding length, format, and criteria.
- Determine the criteria for judging the winning entry. This can include creativity, originality, clarity and composition of prose, how well it conveys the ideals of America, and adherence to the essay topic.
Photo Contest: Participation & Criteria
- Determine the target ages or school grades of contestants participating in the photo contest. You may want to target ninth, tenth, or eleventh graders.
- Select a photo topic.
- Establish requirements for the photo. Determine rules for the size of the photo submitted, whether the photo can be in color or black and white, framed or unframed, and whether it can include writing. Decide upon the number of duplicates to be submitted with the original so that all judges can review the photo. You may require that entrants label the back of the photo with their name, address and a brief paragraph that describes it.
- Determine the criteria for judging the winning entry. This can include creativity, originality, visual appeal, quality of lighting and composition of the photo, how well it conveys the ideals of America, and adherence to the chosen theme.
Poster Contest: Participation & Criteria
- Determine the target ages or school grades of contestants participating in the poster contest. You may want to target third, fourth, and/or fifth graders.
- Select a poster topic.
- Establish requirements for the poster. Determine rules regarding the size of the poster, the type of media to be used and whether it may be submitted framed or unframed, and whether it may include three-dimensional objects or writing. You may require that entrants label the back of the poster with their name, address and a brief paragraph that describes it.
- Determine the criteria for judging the winning entry. This can include creativity, originality, visual appeal, quality of artwork, how well it conveys the ideals of America, and adherence to the chosen theme.
>>Promoting Contests
>>Conducting Contests
>>Essay Contest Ideas
>>Art Contest Ideas
>>Mock Trial Competition
