Guidelines & Other Details
Entrants in Kindergarten through Third Grade are invited to answer the question that appears at the end of the book Hey, Little Ant in an essay of 200 words of less. The question is, “What do you think that kid should do?” The question refers to a stand-off between an ant and the kid who is considering squishing it.Guidelines and Rules
• AGES. Entrants must be in Kindergarten through Third Grade or their homeschool equivalent.
• OWN WORK. Entrants must compose their own answers. Adults may provide help, such as typing answers on the computer, but the thoughts, words and images must be those of the child entering the Essay Challenge.
• ONLINE PLEASE. To keep the Essay Challenge as earth-friendly as possible, we are asking entrants to submit written essays online and not to mail in responses. Written essays should be no longer than 200 words.
• ARTWORK ACCEPTED. We will except artwork accompanied by a few words of explanation from entrants in Kindergarten and First Grade who might find it easier to express themselves in pictures rather than words. (Second and Third Graders are asked to use their writing skills to submit written essays.) Artwork will be mailed using an Artwork or Mail-in Essay Submission Form. Artwork in no way increases an entrant's ability to win. Artwork is seen to be one way of expressing the answer to the essay challenge. Due to administrative cost, artwork, sadly, cannot be returned.
• MAILING. If you are mailing artwork or if submitting an online essay is troublesome, please address your entry to: HLA Essay Challenge, Curious City, 118 Emery Street, Portland, Maine 04102. Please make sure you include Artwork or Mail-in Essay Submission Form.
DOWNLOAD Artwork or Mail-in Essay Submission Form
• SPELLING. Phonetic spelling is welcomed by our judges, so long as it is readable by adults.
• LOCATION. Entrants must reside in the United States or Canada.
• JUST ONCE. Only one entry per child will be allowed.
Deadlines
• Entries Accepted: February 1st, 2008-May 1st, 2008
• Mailed entries should arrive by May 1st, 2008
• Winners Contacted by May 18th, 2008
• Winners Posted on the Website on May 21st, 2008
Winning Essays
A single winning essay will be chosen from each of the grades: Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade and Third Grade. Each entry will be reviewed by a single judge who will recommend the best essays to an executive panel of judges, whose members will select winners based on the criteria above.
The Essay Challenge judges will not be able to see the names or geographic locations of the entries. This will remove any suggestion of bias.