Contest description
Through Writers’ Square, Hakka Foundation holds two contests (English language and Chinese language) per year, and each contest has three sessions.
During each session, approved contest essays will be posted on this website. Anyone can vote for essays they like by clicking +1 on the post.
Judges score each posted essay, tally votes for all entries by division, and award scholarship prizes to Judges' Winners and Audience Favorite Winners.
Prizes
All entrants will receive a certificate of participation by email. Judges' Winners and Audience Favorite Winners receive scholarship prizes by mail after a session ends.
| Prize | Division 1 Grades 1-6 |
Division 2 Grades 7-12 |
Division 3 College |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Place | $500 | $700 | $1000 |
| 2nd Place | $300 | $500 | $700 |
| 3rd Place | $200 | $300 | $500 |
| Honorable Mention | $100 | $200 | $300 |
| Audience Favorite | $100 | $100 | $100 |
Note: Winners receiving a prize in excess of $600 must report their winnings with IRS Form 1099-MISC.
2018 Contest dates
All entries and votes must be submitted before each contest session ends.
Entries received before the contest begins, or after the contest ends, will not be considered for scholarship prizes.
Note: The dates below are subject to change at the discretion of Writers’ Square. Please refer to this page for the most current timelines.
Session 1: Character
Topic: If you could be a character from a movie, TV show, or book, who would you be and why?
Contest and voting begins: 12:01 AM PDT on January 1, 2018
Contest and voting ends: 11:59 PM PDT on March 31, 2018
Session 1 winners announced: April 30, 2018
Session 2: Change
Topic: If you could go back to the past, would you change anything?
Contest and voting begins: 12:01 AM PDT on April 1, 2018
Contest and voting ends: 11:59 PM PDT on June 30, 2018
Session 2 winners announced: July 30, 2018
Session 3: Education
Topic: What would you do to make your school/education better?
Contest and voting begins: 12:01 AM PDT on July 1, 2018
Contest and voting ends: 11:59 PM PDT on September 30, 2018
Session 3 winners announced: October 30, 2018
Eligibility
The Writers’ Square writing scholarship is open to all enrolled students from first grade to college.
There are two contests (English language and Chinese language), with three sessions per year for each contest.
Students may only submit one entry per session for each language.
Contest entries must be original and previously unpublished work written by the entrant. Essays submitted during one session may not be submitted in subsequent sessions.
English language contest
| Division | School level | Maximum word count (not including entrant's name and essay title) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st through 6th grade | 500 words |
| 2 | 7th through 12th grade | 1,000 words |
| 3 | Undergraduate college through graduate school | 1,500 words |
Chinese language contest
| Division | School level | Maximum word count (not including entrant's name and essay title) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st through 6th grade | 500 words |
| 2 | 7th through 12th grade | 1,000 words |
| 3 | Undergraduate college through graduate school | 1,500 words |
Submission guidelines
Hakka Foundation and Writers’ Square reserve the right to reject submissions solely on the basis of compliance with these submission guidelines.
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To enter a contest, fill out the entry form with your personal information and essay.
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Writers’ Square does not guarantee that the original formatting will be maintained when the essay is published on the website. Special formatting, such as indents and bold or italic fonts, are not supported.
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All approved essays will be publicly posted on the Writers' Square Google+ page. Entries and essays can not be modified or deleted after submission, nor taken down after they're posted. Please confirm that all information in your entry form is correct before submitting.
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Entry forms and contest entries for each session must be submitted within the contest dates specified on this page.
Essays submitted on the last day of the session aren't eligible for Audience Favorite Winners prizes and may not be posted before the end of the session. However, essays submitted on the last day of the session are still eligible for Judges' Winners prizes.
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All entry forms and essays will be read for judging purposes.
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Entries may be disqualified for any of the following reasons:
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Submitting outside session dates or by methods other than the website submission form.
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Exceeding word count limits for the entrant’s division based on this website's word calculator tool (irrespective of the word count from your word processor).
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Including vulgar, offensive, plagiarized, or previously-published content.
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Including missing, misleading, or false information in the entry form or essay.
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Not adhering to any of these submission guidelines.
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Judging
A panel of judges will evaluate eligible essays for each session. Their scores will determine the recipients of the Judges Winners scholarship prize.
All entries are blinded and randomized before judging to preserve fairness; the identities of the winning entrants are known after the judging is completed and the winners are selected.
Judges will choose up to 3 winners (1st place, 2nd place,and 3rd place) and up to 3 Honorable Mentions per division for each session. The Judges, Writers’ Square, and Hakka Foundation reserve the right to not issue certain awards if there is no suitable work. All decisions made by judges are final.
Essays are judged on the following criteria:
| Comprehension | How well does the essay reflect a thorough comprehension of the essay’s topic and issues? |
|---|---|
| Organization | Does the essay’s content follow a logical and easily understood progression? Does corroborating evidence support the essay’s main point(s)? |
| Creativity | Does the essay use diverse resources, approaches, or points of view? |
| Writing | Does the essay contain concise language, a variety of vocabulary and sentence structures, appropriate tone, and correct grammar and spelling? |
| Conclusion | Do the conclusions follow logically from the essay’s content? How compelling are these conclusions? |
Voting
To vote for your favorite essays on the Current entries page, click the + button next to the entry. You can also click the + button on winning entries from previous years to continue encouraging previous student winners.
Votes are automatically counted the moment the contest session ends. Essays submitted on the last day of the session aren't eligible for Audience Favorite Winners prizes and may not be posted before the end of the session. However, essays submitted on the last day of the session are still eligible for Judges' Winners prizes.
After a session has ended, you can still to vote for your favorite essays from that session to encourage our student contestants. However, post-session votes will not count towards any prizes. You can similarly vote for contestant essays from previous years at any time, but these votes will not be used for any prize consideration.
Winners announcement
Judges’ Winners and Audience Favorite Winners for each session will be announced on the dates listed on this page, and notified by phone or email. Soon after that session's winners announcement, all winners will receive their scholarship cash prizes in the mail.
Winners’ names and essays will appear on this website and in other publicity pieces, including but not limited to electronic announcements, press releases, and news articles.
If Writers' Square holds Awards Banquets for contest winners, winners and their guests may be recorded and photographed at the Awards Banquet. By attending the banquet, winners and their guests consent to being recorded and photographed. Their attendance also grants Hakka Foundation and Writers' Square the right to edit, use, and reuse resulting photographs and video footage for non-profit purposes including use in print, on the internet, and all other forms of media. In addition, they agree to release Hakka Foundation and Writers' Square from all claims, demands, and liabilities whatsoever in connection with the above.
Contest copyright and privacy policies
These contest rules and policies (as well as other related statements) will be reviewed from time to time and amended or revised as necessary based on the experiences gained under its use and/or changes in the law.
Contest copyright policy
The essay author retains all copyrights to the submitted work. At the discretion of Hakka Foundation and/or Writers’ Square, submitted pieces may be published on the Writers’ Square website or in other media and publicity pieces associated with Hakka Foundation and/or Writers’ Square. By entering this scholarship contest, you consent to the publication of your work, and you grant permission for Hakka Foundation and/or Writers’ Square to print the work in future journals, publicity pieces, exhibitions, flyers, and other formats or contexts determined by, and at the discretion of, Hakka Foundation and/or Writers’ Square.
Work that has been previously published on the Writers' Square website and social media accounts may not be submitted to or accepted by other publications as "unpublished" work. If you subsequently publish your work in another publication, proper attribution must be given to the Writers’ Square website. As a condition of submission, you will be required to agree to these contest terms specifying your rights and obligations.
If you need to provide a confirmation of publication, such as for college admissions offices, contact admin@writerssquare.org.
Contest privacy policy
Hakka Foundation and Writers’ Square collects personal information for the purpose of 1) confirming the veracity of contest entry form data at Writers’ Square’s and/or Hakka Foundation’s discretion, and 2) notifying contest winners.
All information submitted is kept confidential and won’t be made public by Hakka Foundation or Writers’ Square. Hakka Foundation and Writers’ Square will not lease, sell, or share the personal information collected. Legal minors under the age of eighteen must have permission from their parents or legal guardians to enter the contest.
If an entrant’s essay is selected for publication in any media associated with Hakka Foundation or Writers’ Square, entrants will only be identified by their first and last names and grade levels. Schools, hometowns, and other personal information will not be used. For example, an entrant’s published essay may be attributed to “John Smith, 10th grade.”