Contest descriptions
Writing contest
Through Writers’ Square, Hakka Foundation holds two writing 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 encourage students by clicking Like on the post.
Judges score each posted essay by division and award scholarship prizes to Judges' Winners.
Note: In the 2019 writing contests, there will be no Audience Favorite winners.
Photography contest
New for 2019, Writers' Square will be holding an English-only photography contest with three sessions.
During each session, approved contest entries will be posted on this website. Anyone can vote for photos they like by clicking Like on the post. Votes are tallied at the end of each session to award scholarship prizes to 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 |
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Writing contest: 1st Place | $500 | $700 | $1000 |
Writing contest: 2nd Place | $300 | $500 | $700 |
Writing contest: 3rd Place | $200 | $300 | $500 |
Writing contest: Honorable Mention | $100 | $200 | $300 |
Photography contest: Audience favorite | $100 | $100 | $100 |
Note: Winners receiving a prize in excess of $600 must report their winnings with IRS Form 1099-MISC.
2019 Contest dates
All entries and votes must be submitted before each contest session ends. The topics and dates below apply to both the writing and photography contests.
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: Happiness
Topic: What makes you happy and why?
Contest and voting begins: 12:01 AM PDT on January 1
Contest and voting ends: 11:59 PM PDT on March 31
Session 1 winners announced: April 30
Session 2: Fairness
Topic: What does fairness mean to you?
Contest and voting begins: 12:01 AM PDT on April 1
Contest and voting ends: 11:59 PM PDT on June 30
Session 2 winners announced: July 30
Session 3: Greatness
Topic: What makes a person or thing great?
Contest and voting begins: 12:01 AM PDT on July 1
Contest and voting ends: 11:59 PM PDT on September 30
Session 3 winners announced: October 30
Eligibility
The Writers’ Square writing and photography contests are open to all enrolled students from first grade to college.
There are two contests: a writing contest (available in English language and Chinese language) and a photography contest (available in English only). There are three sessions per year for each contest.
Students may only submit one entry per language for each session, but can enter multiple contests in the same session. For example, students may enter the English writing contest, Chinese writing contest, and photography session in Session 1, as long as they only submit one entry to each contest.
Contest entries must be original and previously unpublished work written by the entrant. Essays or photographs submitted during one session may not be submitted in subsequent sessions.
English language writing contest
Division | School level | Maximum word count (not including entrant's name and essay title) |
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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 writing contest
Division | School level | Maximum word count (not including entrant's name and essay title) |
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1 | 1st through 6th grade | 500 words |
2 | 7th through 12th grade | 1,000 words |
3 | Undergraduate college through graduate school | 1,500 words |
English language photography contest
Division | School level | Maximum caption word count (not including entrant's name and photograph title) |
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1 | 1st through 6th grade | 50 words |
2 | 7th through 12th grade | 50 words |
3 | Undergraduate college through graduate school | 50 words |
Submission guidelines
Hakka Foundation and Writers’ Square reserve the right to reject submissions in any contest solely on the basis of compliance with these submission guidelines.
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To enter a contest, fill out the appropriate entry form with your personal information and essay or photograph.
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Writers’ Square does not guarantee that the original formatting will be maintained when the essay, photograph, or caption 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 and photographs will be publicly posted on the Writers' Square Facebook page. Entries 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.
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Photographs submitted on the last day of the session may not be 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, essays, photographs, and captions will be read for judging and compliance 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, inappropriate, plagiarized, or previously-published content.
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Including missing, misleading, or false information in the entry form, essay, photograph, or photograph caption.
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Cheating, such as submitting work that belongs to other people or creating multiple Gmail or Facebook accounts to vote for one entry.
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Not adhering to any of these submission guidelines.
- If winning entries are subsequently disqualified (for example, if the contestant is discovered to have cheated), that winning contestant must return the scholarship money to Writers' Square. No additional winners will be announced to replace the disqualified contestant.
Additional photography contest submission guidelines
- Captions for the photography contest must be in English only. Entries with photograph captions in other languages will not be accepted for the photography contest.
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Photographs must meet the following criteria:
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File type of .jpeg or .png
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Minimum resolution of 1200 x 1800 pixels at 300 ppi
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Maximum size of 10 MB
- Photographs may be retouched (such as for color adjustments), but may not be edited to add content that was not in the original photograph (such as adding buildings, people, or text via photo editing software like Photoshop).
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.
Comprehension | How well does the essay reflect a thorough comprehension of the essay’s topic and issues? |
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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 or photographs on the Current entries page, click the Like button next to the entry. You can also click the Like button on winning entries from previous years to continue encouraging previous student winners.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