The Filson Historical Society High School Essay Contest
The Filson Historical Society's 3rd Annual High School Contest
The Filson Historical Society is pleased to announce its 3rd annual High School Essay Contest. The contest requires students to analyze and discuss primary source documents, a key skill needed for the Advanced Placement U.S. History course. The first prize winner will receive the $1000 Filson Essay Prize; two runners-up will receive $250 prizes. The teacher of the first place winner will receive $100.
The contest is open to all high school
students in public, private, alternative, parochial, and home-study
programs located in the Louisville Metro area (including Oldham and
Bullitt counties and southern Indiana).
The Question: Write an essay that responds to the
following statement:
Identify a significant story or event in the history of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley and analyze how it reshaped the history of the state, the region, and the nation.
In keeping with The Filson's mission to tell significant stories about Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley, this year's contest asks high school students to explore and analyze one story, event, or person of significance in the region's history. How has the story or event you have selected reshaped the historical development of the state, the region, and nation, and how does it remain significant today? Students may choose any era of U.S. history-from the colonial era to the present-relevant to the history of Kentucky, southern Indiana, and the Ohio Valley. The best essays will draw on research in both secondary sources and primary documents-that is, documents produced by historical actors.
The Filson has placed selected primary documents concerning the following significant stories about the region's history on its website:
- Pioneer settlement in frontier Kentucky
- The Lewis and Clark expedition and the Ohio Valley
- Tecumseh's Indian confederation and the War of 1812
- Henry Clay's antebellum presidential campaigns
- Henry Bibb escapes slavery in Kentucky
- The Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act
- The social and economic impact of the steamboat on the Ohio Valley
- Kentucky's response to secession
- A divided Kentucky in the Civil War
- Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation in Kentucky
- African Americans in Reconstruction-era Kentucky
- The tobacco wars of the early twentieth century
- Coal mining, labor organizing, and environmental issues in eastern Kentucky
- Voting rights for women
- The Depression, the New Deal, and the Tennessee Valley Authority
- The impact of World War I and/or World War II in Kentucky and the Ohio Valley
- The horse racing industry in Kentucky
- The Civil Rights struggle in Kentucky
- Industrialization and environmental protection in the Kentucky and the Ohio Valley
To access primary documents for these significant stories, click here or on the link in left side bar, "images for Essay contest". The above topics are suggestions only. Students can explore additional significant stories using the archival documents available at The Filson and through various on-line websites such as the Library of Congress's American Memory website (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html).
Essays will be evaluated anonymously by a panel of judges based on the following criteria:
- Demonstration of knowledge and coherence of response to the question
- Originality of essay
- Presentation of a clear argument and ideas
- Integration of a variety of source materials, including primary documents and secondary sources from The Filson Historical Society and elsewhere
- Writing mechanics (grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.)
Prizes and How to Enter:
The panel of judges will award the best essay the Filson Essay Prize in the amount of $1000. Two runners-up will receive $250 awards. In addition, the teacher of the first prize winner will receive a cash award of $100.
Please send entries to the following address:
The Filson Historical Society
1310 S. 3rd Street
Louisville, KY 40208
ATTN: Essay Contest
All entries must be received or postmarked by Friday, December 2, 2011. Entries received after this date will not be accepted. Winners will be notified in January 2012. The prizes will be awarded at the Gertrude Polk Brown lecture in spring 2012.
Contest Rules:
- 1. Contestants must currently be enrolled in a public, private, alternative, parochial, or home-study program school located in the Louisville Metro area.
- 2. Contestants can submit only one essay.
- 3. Contestants may not identify themselves or their schools within the text of the essay.
- 4. Contestants must submit hard copy of document. No electronic/emailed documents will be accepted.
- 5. The essay MUST be the contestant's original work. Plagiarized essays will be disqualified.
- 6. All entries must be typewritten, double spaced 12-point New Times Roman font.
- 7. Essays must be 1500-2000 words or 5-8 pages (cover page, title, bibliography do not contribute to the overall word/page count)
- 8. Source materials should include both secondary sources and primary documents
- 9. Contestants are encouraged to utilize The Filson Historical Society holdings including our online resources prepared for the contest.
- 10. Source materials must be cited clearly
ESSAY RULES Section 3
A cover sheet is to accompany the essay and should include the following items. Do not count cover sheet toward overall word count:
1. Full Name
2. Address, City, State, and Zip-Code
3. Phone Number and E-Mail
4. Date of Birth
5. Grade Currently Enrolled In School
6. Full Name of School Attending
7. Total Word Count (do not include cover)
8. Signed statement: "I have read and understand the guidelines. The essay submitted is original and of my own creation."
Entries found in violation of the contest rules will be eliminated from the competition. If plagiarism is identified, the contestant will be ineligible to compete in future competitions administered by The Filson Historical Society. If the prize winners are found in violation of the rules after receiving scholarship funds, all prize money will be forfeited.
All entries become the property of The Filson Historical Society and will not be returned. We reserve the right to publish the winning participant's name and/or essay (whether in excerpts or in its entirety).
The essay will be verified by a teacher familiar with the recipient's original work. We also reserve the right to void the contest for any reason.
By submitting an entry, you are acknowledging that you have read and understand completely the guidelines of this competition. You are also stating that the essay is of your work.
click here for a word.doc of these guidelines
Information for teachers
Ideas for Implementation in Your Classroom:
- Assign one of the AP U.S. History themes to your students and have them examine a topic or event that is relevant to the theme and meets contest requirements.
- Assign one of the suggested stories to your students and have all students in the course examine that topic directly as part of the course.
- Use some of the documents on The Filson site as part of a document roundtable, examine them as a class or in small groups, and then have students find other relevant sources.
- Share contest information with interested students (you might award extra credit for completion of outstanding essays).
