Essay Contest
Topic: "The Power of Youth"
Who: Students under the age of 19 years as of December 31, 2008 and who are educated in the United States, Canada or the Caribbean.
How to Enter:Interested students submit a speech on the pre-assigned topic and an entry form to their local Optimist Club. For students in the Sauk Prairie school district, contact us by e-mail at (info@saukprairieoptimists.org) or (tczantow@speagle.com) or by mail at
Sauk Prairie Area Optimist Club
P.O. Box 522
Sauk City, WI 53583
When: Entries are due by January 31, 2009.
Rules:
- Contestants must furnish a birth certificate to compete.
- Winners of the local contest advance to the District contest.
- Winners of the District contest advance to the International contest.
- The essay must be written in English.
- Each essay must begin with a title page containing: topic, number of words, writer's name, address, phone number, name of school, and date of birth.
- The essay must be typed and double-spaced.
- The essay is to be between 400 and 500 words long, not including the title, bibliography or footnotes.
- Each contestant shall prepare his or her own essay. The contestant may receive advice.
- No referrence can be made which identifies the student, parents, school, community, sponsoring Optimist club or District.
- Any quotation or copyrighted material used in the essay must be identified properly.
For an application with contest rules, click here.
Ann Gilbertson is pictured with Optimist President Nancy Breunig accepting an appreciation award for her winning essay titled, "Today’s Choices Shape My Future." Gilbertson was the 2008 Essay Contest Winner.

