Political Awareness Essay Contest

Tyler Fertel, Staff Writer

This year’s Class of ‘35 Political Awareness Essay contest will be University School’s 33rd and it is sure to be another competitive one. The contest details are simple: submit an essay about any current or historical political, economic, social, or legal issue with a local, national, or international scale. The essay needs to be at least 1,000 words in length with a 250 word précis attached (A précis in its most basic form is just a summary of what your essay will cover and what issue will be discussed in the 1,000 words to come).

Any student’s essay can be submitted to the headmaster’s office up until the day before spring break (This year, the deadline is by 3:20 on Friday, March 16). Our interim headmaster Mr. Gallagher, along with a board of other judges, will be reviewing each essay carefully in order to decide the winners of the contest. Recent winners of the Political Essay Awareness contest are Will Franklin from the class of 2017, Liam O’Toole from the class of 2016, Thomas Dattilo from the class of 2015, and Henry Shapard from the class of 2016 (Henry won the contest as a sophomore, showing that any student from any grade can truly win the contest with enough effort and essay-writing talent).

In addition to having your name recognized on a plaque outside of the history office as Political Awareness Essay Prize champion, the top three winners also receive cash prizes. 3rd place receives $75 and a certificate, 2nd receives $100 and a certificate, and 1st receives $200, a certificate, his name on the plaque outside the history office, and also a trophy.

This plaque of the winners puts it best, with the following inscription: “Awarded to students who have thought logically and dispassionately about political issues and have expressed those thoughts and opinions in clear, succinct and interesting written essays.” Essays are due by March 16th and the winners of the contest will be recognized on April 9th. This competition is a good opportunity to research a political topic affecting your community and to put your findings into a well-written essay, so best of luck to the submitters in the selection process to find the three best in the school.