DAYTON — The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) invite all students to enter the Americanism Contest.
Elementary school students may enter a poster contest, middle school students may enter a brochure contest and high school students may enter an essay or oration contest.
All contests are open to public school, parochial, or home-schooled students. The contests are conducted in three phases: the local chapter, state-level and national competitions. Recognition and monetary prizes are available at each level. Each contest must be entered through a SAR chapter near the student’s residence.
In this area, the local chapter is the Richard Montgomery Chapter in Dayton. Official rules and how to submit work for each contest can be found on the SAR website, www.SAR.org under the “Education” tab. Deadline to enter each contest is Dec. 31. Contact information for the Richard Montgomery Chapter is [email protected] or phone 937-335-7345.
The poster contest is open to all third, fourth, and fifth-grade students. The theme is “Revolutionary War Events.” Judging with be on originality, artistic merit and evidence of research. The poster should be a flexible board 22-inches by 28-inches. An official entry form, available on the SAR website, must be attached to the back of the poster.
The brochure contest is open to students in the sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth grades. The contest is to create a tri-fold brochure out of a typical 8.5-inch by 11-inch piece of paper. The student should research and create their brochure on one of the five foundational documents in the American Revolutionary War; the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers or the Bill of Rights. The brochure will be judged on content, creativity and correctness. The judging criteria rates highest personally drawn artwork and text authored by the student as opposed to cut and paste from books, magazines and the Internet.
The essay contest is open all high school students, ninth through 12th grades. To participate, students must submit an original 800 to 1,200-word essay based on an event, person, philosophy or ideal associated with the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence or the framing of the United States Constitution. Each student’s essay will be judged based upon its historical accuracy, clarity, organization, grammar and spelling and documentation.
The oration contest is also for high school students (ninth through 12th grades). Participants must write an original oration of no less than five minutes or more than six minutes. The oration must be delivered from memory and without the use of notes or any kind of props. The subject of the oration shall deal with an event, a personality or a document pertaining to the Revolutionary War with an emphasis on our nation’s 250th anniversary celebration. It is essential that each oration show the relationship it bears to America today. Evidence of historical research and creative presentation are also important. The oration will be judged based upon its composition, delivery, significance, historical accuracy and relevance to our 250th anniversary.
