Who?	All students of participating schools in Grades 4 through 12
		What?	An essay contest to enhance writing skills of students and encourage healthy competition in academics
		When?	See the Academic Rodeo General Schedule and the Academic Rodeo Contest Timelines for specific dates and deadlines.
“Promoting excellence in education and showcasing the talents of all our youth.”		Where?	Winning entries in each grade level are on display for public viewing throughout the Academic Rodeo and the East Texas State Fair.

See General Guidelines for general event rules and award information.

Prompt

The prompt will be sent to schools registering for Academic Rodeo participation by the deadline on the Academic Rodeo Timeline.

Contest Rules

(Revised July 2008)

1. The maximum length of each entry should be 250-300 WORDS. The word count should be indicated on the cover page.
2. Writing must be done at school during one class period, not to exceed 60 minutes.
3. Entries shall be written by the student without assistance from anyone and judged holistically as first draft writing, at the campus level.
4. Each CAMPUS may submit no more than three entries per grade level of 4th through 12th grades.
5. The prompt may be given to the participating students the day before the writing is to occur for them to begin thinking and doing any necessary research about what they would like to write. Teachers shall not conduct any prewriting activities with students directly related to the prompt. Students shall not be permitted to use any notes or writings completed prior to the period the teacher has designated for the contest writing.
6. After the judging at each campus level is completed, the top three papers in each grade level will be returned to the students for editing. The student may edit his/her paper for errors in mechanics and usage. No major revision of the paper will be allowed . The editing will take place during class time or under the teacher's supervision.
7. Typewritten essays are preferred, but handwritten work will be accepted without penalty for using that type of format. Typewritten essays should be in a standard Times New Roman or Arial size 12 font.
8. Essays should be written on only one side of the paper.
9. A cover page for the essay should include the following information and be stapled to the top of the essay.
   1. Name of Student
   2. Grade of Student
   3. School Attended (For home-schooled students, list name used for school registration.)
   4. School District if a public school, or School Designation (private, home school)
   5. Word Count
   6. Teacher Signature
10. Two complete, clean stapled copies of each of the top three (3) entries from EACH GRADE LEVEL (4th through 12th) , should be submitted to the East Texas State Fair office for judging to determine the winners for each grade level. Do not submit rough drafts, illustrations, or any pre-writing activities. The essays should be free of any teacher comments or grades.
11. Essays may NOT be sent by fax. The two copies of the essay should be brought or mailed to the fair office to arrive by the deadline,
12. Score sheets available to teachers are a tool for the teacher in preparing students for writing and helping the student understand how the essay will be scored. These should NOT be submitted with the essay.
13. The winners will be notified through the participating school.

Evaluation Guidelines:

Each essay will be evaluated using the following criteria. (See sample score sheet for specific criteria.)

• Adherence to topic
• Use of vivid detail and descriptive words, etc.
• Use of supportive details, etc.
• Language appropriate to audience - The audience is made up of teachers and other adults.
• Effective paper organization
• Clarity of expression - appropriate sentence structure and vocabulary
• Creativity - originality of idea and expression
• Mechanics - overall usage, spelling, punctuation, etc.

Writing Contest Timeline

(See Academic Rodeo Timeline for specific dates and deadlines.) 

• Primary Contact for school or organization will submit the School/Organization Registration Form by the deadline. See the Academic Rodeo Timeline for specific deadline.  Click here to see if your school is registered.
• Registered schools will receive the writing prompt by e-mail to the contest sponsor.
• Writing should be done in class during a 1-2 week time period designated in the Academic Rodeo Timeline.
• The school should select a maximum of 3 best entries for each grade level (4th through 12th ) to be submitted to the Academic Rodeo.
• Students whose essays have been selected are given an opportunity under the teacher's supervision to make grammatical and formatting corrections to the essay.
• The sponsor should register students whose essays have been selected using the Student Registration Form by the designated deadline.
• Entries should be submitted by the deadline.
• Winners will be announced by the date designated in the Academic Rodeo Timeline.
• Entries will be on display during the Academic Rodeo.
• Winners will be recognized at the Academic Rodeo Awards Celebration. Students and/or school sponsors should attend to accept awards for the school.
• One copy of each entry will be stored for display during the East Texas State Fair.
• Students or sponsors may collect entries from display during the designated pick-up period after the fair.
• Entries not claimed will become the property of the East Texas State Fair and will be destroyed.