The challenge of writing essays for essay contests can be fun with the knowledge of how to write an essay contest. Essay contests of fifty words or less are often advertised in the newspapers, on educational bulletin boards, or mentioned by instructors. Most students need a little extra money and winning essay contests is a great way to do this. Knowing the keys to writing these successfully will make writing these easy and fun.
The first step is to read and understand all the rules. The judges base their decisions on how well the rules are followed and how well the essay is written. If the rules are broken the essay will not be accepted from the judges. It is important to write on the topic and keep the word limit. Make every word count. Use a lot of strong adjectives and descriptions.
How many times can one person enter the essay contest? If more than one essay is allowed write more than one essay. Some essay contests says one time per household while other essay contests allows a person to enter the contest once a day until the contest deadline is over.
Brainstorming for ideas is the best way to begin. What is the essay contest about? What topics are wanted? Make an outline with the basics of the essay. Always begin with a hook. Winning essays have hooks that keep the judges reading and wanting more. The judges look for something that is different, special, or interesting. Begin with a quote, an anecdote, or a statistic that leaves the judges saying, “Wow!”
Writing any essay should have an introduction, mid dle , and a conclusion. An introduction, as mentioned, should have a hook to keep the judges reading. If the first paragraph does not interest the judges the chances of winning are low. The conclusion should be strong ending with a powerful statement. If you want to see some examples of great essays go to
the essay writing site
. A variety of sample essays are available at this website.
A key to writing successful essays for contests is remembering to show and not tell. A successful essay should appeal to all five senses showing the reader different descriptions in the essay. Let the audience see, hear, and smell the events in the essay. Do not use too many adverbs because that hurts an essay because the “-ly” words weaken the prose of the essay. Look at some of the essays at ThePaperExperts.com to see examples.
Use active verbs not passive. Many students tend to use passive verbs because the essay describes the past but active verbs give it more meaning. Give the essay powerful nouns and verbs that carry the essay as the judges read it. Consider every word in the essay and ask if it is really needed. If it is not needed cut it out of the essay.
Always revise, revise, and revise. Read the essay out loud while listening to mistakes in the grammar. Ask a neutral person to read the essay. Do not get upset about the criticism of an essay. Revision is the key to any article, book, or essay being published. Most famous writers have several professional people critique their books and magazine articles before they go to the editor. REVISION is the key to having a winning essay. Carefully proofread the essay several times looking for small mistakes as well as large mistakes. Go
to a great site for essays
for sample essays showing how a great essay is written.
Entering essay contests can bring a few extra dollars to a student who needs the money. It feels great to win a contest. It is exciting to tell others about a winning essay. Anyone with a little work and creative ability to write can create successful essays for essay contests. The first step is remembering to read all the instructions to the essay contest. Make an outline of the essay. Find a powerful hook for the introduction paragraph. Write the essay and have it proofread several times before entering it. Have fun writing winning essays for contests.
