Enter the 2008-2009 Contest

How to Enter [1] | Mailing Your Essay [2]

How to Enter

Note: The deadline was February 1, 2009.

The National Peace Essay Contest is a well-established contest with very specific guidelines and rules. Entering the Contest is easy if you follow the 7 steps below.

If you are eligible [3] to enter the Contest, speak to your coordinator [4] about your interest in submitting an essay.
Express yourself through a thoughtful and researched essay. Be sure to follow our guidelines [5]. We also have information on how the essays will be judged [6].
Gather the information you need to fill out the registration form.
Fill out the online registration form, print out the registration form, sign it. Students and Coordinators fill out separate forms.
Put your Essay ID (found on your printed registration form) on the top right corner of the first page of your essay.
Make four copies of the essay and send it along with the student and coordinator registration forms. One coordinator form must accompany each package of essays. Send the essays to the following address:
National Peace Essay Contest
United States Institute of Peace
1200 17th Street NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036-3011
Keep a copy of the essay and the form for your records.

Also, here is a convenient checklist.

Have you made sure that your name, school, or city do not appear anywhere on the essay manuscript?
Is your essay no more than 1,500 words long?
Have you filled in the word-count section on the application form?
Is your essay written in English?
Does your essay address all parts of the contest topic?
Have you given your essay a title?
Have you scrupulously followed accepted standards regarding attribution of quotations, arguments, and ideas of others?
Does your essay have standardized citations and a bibliography?
Are your Internet sources listed separately from your other sources?
Is your essay typed, double-spaced, with left and right margins set at 1 1/4 inches, on one side of white 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper? (Please do not put essays in binders.)
Have you numbered the pages of your essay?
Has your contest coordinator completed the Coordinator Registration Form?
Have you filled out, printed out, and signed the Student Registration Form? (Read the pledge carefully. In signing it, you certify that the essay is your own work.)
Has your contest coordinator signed your student registration form?
Have you made four legible, collated copies of your essay, including the bibliography?
Have you stapled each copy of your essay?
Have you attached your student registration form to the top copy of your four essays?
Have you made a copy of your essay and the student registration form to keep for your own records?

Mailing Your Essay

The postmark deadline for submission of essays was February 1, 2009. The Institute is unable to confirm receipt of entries.

Mail the Essays and Registration Forms to:

United States Institute of Peace
National Peace Essay Contest
1200 17th Street NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036-3011

Four copies of each essay must be submitted with the registration form or the essay will not be forwarded for judging. Disqualified essays will not be returned for correction or forwarded to judges.
[7]