Georgia Voyager Magazine
Georgia Day Essay Contest Rules

Dear Teacher:

Thank you for your interest in the Tenth annual Georgia Day Essay Contest. Thanks to our sponsors, Brunswick and the Golden Isles Visitors Bureau and the Sea Island Company, we are proud to once again host the contest and hold an event to celebrate Georgia Day. Our Essay Contest theme this year is "History in your own backyard "

The deadline for this contest is January 12, 2007. Winners will be announced during the 2007 General Assembly session at the Capitol in Atlanta. They will also be published in the summer 2007 issue of the Georgia Voyager Magazine. For more information, contact Georgia Voyager Magazine at 1-800-243-6991.
 
We hope the following guidelines will assist your students in writing the essays. We hope that by encouraging this assignment their reading and writing, as well as their social studies test scores will be impacted this year.

Georgia History Essay Contest Rules

1. Make sure your essay and title are clearly related to the contest theme.

2. On the essay's cover sheet, centered on the page, include the title of the essay, your name, your teacher, and your school.

3. Include the essay title on the top line of the essay.

4. If there is a bibliography, include it on a separate sheet following the essay.

5. The body of the essay (excluding title and any bibliography) must not exceed 300 words in length (including words such as “a” and “an”).

6. Check to make sure there are no spelling or punctuation errors.

7. Write an introduction as the first paragraph of your essay, and a conclusion as the last paragraph. As a general rule, try to avoid heavy use of the passive voice in sentence construction.

Example:

PASSIVE: Georgia's first colonists were sent by the Trustees.

ACTIVE: The trustees sent Georgia's first colonists.

8. If you submit a handwritten essay, use blue or black ink.

9. If you use a computer to type your essay, the following rules apply:

a. Use a standard, type, preferably Times or a similar serif font. Sans serif fonts (such as Arial, Helvetica and Letter Gothic) are acceptable. Bolding and italics can be used for words, phrases, or book titles, but do not type the entire essay in bold or italics. Type the title on the first page of the essay in bold.

b. Use 12-point type for the body of the essay.

c. Double-space the text of the essay.

d. Use a 1-inch margin on the left and right of the body of the essay and a .5 to .75-inch margin on the top and bottom of the essay.

Good Luck!