Four More Days of Diwali Bonus

Looking at the holiday session, which kept many of the youngsters busy with their Diwali celebrations, the last date for submitting the entry for the Essay Competition stands extended till 31st October midnight. Please hurry and send in your entry.

How to create waves with Your Essay

Chandigarh Literary Society invites entries to its Literati 2014-Essay Competition

Essay Contest for School Children 

The Chandigarh Literature festival,  under the aegis of Chandigarh Literary Society announces its first ever Essay Contest for school students that shall be an annual feature henceforth. It aims at furthering the goal of CLS to promote literature and creative writing in the region. The dates for this year’s festival are  7th, 8th and 9th November.

CLS serves as a network of creative minds, nurturing talent and bringing together writers, publishers, intellectuals, students and scholars. These Essay contests aims at bringing the students of the tri-city to the centerfold of the event and thus encourage the budding writers of the region.

The contest shall be open to all the Middle School and High School students of the tricity – Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali. There shall be two separate categories for Middle School and High School and there is no fee associated with participation in this contest.

TOPICS: Students would need to write an argumentative essay on any one topic from each category. Only one entry per child will be selected.

For Middle School (class 5-8)
1. All students should be required to learn about poetry.
2. It should be mandatory for all schools to have a Book Reading Club

Senior School (class 9-12)
1. English language skills should not be tested in exams like UPSC
2. It is sometimes right for the government to restrict freedom of speech

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 
Submission deadline is OCTOBER 26TH, 2014 and all submissions should be made before 12 MN. See “Essay Contest Rules & Guidelines” section below for full eligibility requirements and guidelines. Essays must be typed or legibly handwritten and may be submitted by e mail to chandigarhliterary@gmail.com, on or before October 26, 2014.

FEE:
There is no fee involved. We encourage all students in these two categories to participate.

RESULTS:
Winners will be announced by November 5th, 2014  on our website and facebook page, and the prizes will be given at the concluding function of Literati 2014 on 9th November at Chandigarh Lake Club.

CONTEST RULES & GUIDELINES: 
1. All students must be enrolled in a private or public school of the tricity. There is no cost to enter the contest.
2. Each contestant may submit only one essay.
3. Essay word count up to:
- 600-750 words for Middle school students (CLASS 5-8) 
 - 1200-1500 words for High school students (CLASS 9-12)
4. Students must submit essays on or before the contest due date, October 26, 2014. 
5. Students who have family members who are a part of the organizing committee or serving as contest judges shall not be eligible to participate in this contest.
6. Essays must be written in English, typed, using MS-Word, Double-spaced and page numbered.
7. Include a cover page with:
- Essay title, category in which applied
- Students’ name, email address and phone number
- Parent’s email address, mailing address, phone number
- Name of the school in which enrolled and class, section
- Date of birth
8. Entrant must ensure that his essay reflects his/her own writing and original thinking.  It must not infringe on the intellectual-property rights of any third party, should not have been published in any medium and should not have won an award. If an essay is found to be plagiarized, it shall not be judged.
9. Essays will not be returned to students; they become property of CLS. The Society has the right to edit, publish or otherwise duplicate any essay entered into the contest without payment to the author. Appropriate acknowledgment will be given to the writer(s).

JUDGING and EVALUATION:
A panel of qualified judges will evaluate the essays . Scoring criteria will be identical for both, the Middle, and the High School category.

CLS will choose 3 judges from the educational and volunteer community at large to score the essays using the following scoring criteria score per category:
(20 is the highest per category with a total possible score of 100)

- Writing: use of correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, concise language and good vocabulary (score 20)
- Originality of thought and of content (score 20)
- Organization of the essay into well-connected paragraphs (score 20)
- Appropriateness to the theme (score 20)
- Creativity in presentation and coherence of ideas (score 20)

AWARDS:
The top three entries in each division will be announced on our website and facebook page.
The prizes shall be distributed on the closing ceremony of the festival, that is 9th of November and awardees shall be intimated in advance.