General Information

The Patriot Essay Competition is an essay contest open to all current Yorktown students, free-to-enter. Write an argumentative essay in return for monetary prizes and distinctions! 

All entrants will draft an essay responding to one of the two prompts below, abiding by the below guidelines, and submitting before the final deadline of MARCH 10TH. 

Winners will be announced and prize money will be distributed sometime thereafter.

Prompts

Read the following carefully.

Guidelines

Essays must meet the following criteria in order to be judged:

1. Essays must respond to only one prompt.

2. Essays must be the candidate's own work. Cases of ChatGPT and plagiarism will be removed from the judging pool and the responsible contestant will be penalized.

3. Essays must not exceed 850 words. This only includes the body of your argument--not diagrams, endnotes, or bibliography.

4. Essays must be properly formatted. Essay sections (Introduction, Conclusion, Bibliography, etc.) and citations should be identifiable.

5. Essays must not include the candidate's name.

Essays are expected to follow the neutral, third-person tone that is standard for argumentative essays.

Prizes & Judging

Prizes

Essays which place first, second, and third will receive $150, $100, and $75, respectively.

Roughly, the top third of essays will receive honorable mentions. 

One essay, written by a freshman or sophomore, may be awarded the "best underclassman" essay for $25.

Judging System & Criteria

Essays that fail to meet the below guidelines will not be accepted into the judging pool.

Essays that are accepted into the judging pool will be considered by Yorktown's English Department in terms of the following criteria:

• Thesis' connection to prompt

• Originality

• Quality of evidence

• Quality of analysis

• Structure/Flow

• Writing style: aim for clarity and concision. 

• Persuasive force: aim to change the reader's mind.

Decisions will be released early-mid January. All decisions are final.

Need help? Examples of argumentative essays can be found here.

Submission & Deadlines

Essays must be submitted prior to March 10th at 11:59pm or they will not be accepted. Try to submit earlier to avoid complications, as there are no exceptions.

To submit your essay:

1. Ensure that it meets all criteria listed above.

2. Save it as a PDF.

3. Fill out the submission form below.

Sponsors

Our wonderful sponsors are why this contest exists.