Shilpa’s Summer Contest.

Summer vacations – they are almost here and so is the Summer Contest. Last year, I took a small step towards my vision of having an education system where in the lack of being able to memorize  was not punished. It gave rise to the summer writing contest – http://www.shilpaverma.com/a-summer-contest/

The contest got a lot of good responses but unfortunately not too many entries came in and the judges didn’t really have much to choose from. This was probably a lack of marketing on my effort, so this year, I’ll try and be more active and keep reminding you.  Hope that’s ok 🙂

The rules this year are simple. Any student can participate. Since I don’t know how many kids will actually participate, I will leave the age and topic categories out.  My total budget for prizes for this contest is $200.  I know it’s a small amount, but since this is a self sponsored event, I can only afford so much.  The essay is open to all ages and school going kids.

Many of you have small businesses out there, if you would like to sponsor a prize, please email me at bloggingtale@gmail.com and we can make it bigger and better. I love creative collaboration and promise you it will be a relationship that is mutually beneficial. 

Topic? That is always a big question mark for me. Should I give it structure or should I let if flow freely. This year I have decided to keep it free flowing.

                                    The topic is: I wish my school….  

Maximum words allowed: 700
Essay has to be typed. For the younger ones, parents can help type, but please be honest and let it be their ideas and not yours. I think our judges are smart enough to know the difference.
Due Date: August 10th, 2015.
Email final essay to: bloggingtale@gmail.com Include your name, age and email ID/Phone number. 

“I wish my school…” is a very abstract topic. I chose this for two reasons. First, summer is when they unwind from the rigor of testing and studying. This is the time when they can  imagine their school to be all they want it to be. Second, education industry is the only industry in the world that puts out products with no input from its end consumer – the student. Let this essay be their opportunity to express what they want their school to be. Will it make a difference? Who knows? It’s a start, lets see where this takes us. The free flow is to let the student take it in any direction that they want.  They get enough rules in the school, here they can write as they want. The can write about their abstract wishes of wishing that school was only 2 hours long or how they wish they could play all day or maybe they wish they had no tests in school. But here’s the key – In addition to writing what they wish, they also need to say Why that is important to them and How will that help them as they venture into higher grades or the real world.  

For instance, the student can absolutely say, I wish my school was on Planet Mars, but he/she then has to explain why and how will that be helpful as compared to the school being on Earth. The student can say, I wish I had no tests but projects in school, but then remember to say why and how will that be helpful and more important. The student can also say, I wish my school stayed the same and then explain why he/she does not wish to change anything.

The idea is to let them express themselves and like last year, there are no extra points for using the dictionary while writing. I am a firm believer
that good writing is simple and yet captivating. No one should be penalized for not memorizing the English dictionary. The judges will be looking for good hooks, ideas, a cohesive structure to writing, a thought process and a good conclusion.

I hope you, the parent will help me by showing this to your student and encourage them to participate. Don’t force, but friendly reminders are okay. If you would like to sponsor any part of this competition, write to me at bloggingtale@gmail.com

Thank you again for the love and support to this blog. Have a wonderful summer and keep in touch.