Advice on Submitting Essays

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

In this project, the aim is to enable school pupils to study the New Testament and meet the person of Jesus Christ, and to recognize the impact of his life, death, and resurrection.

We like receiving bulk entries – eg a whole class or year-group at a time -  although individual entries are also acceptable. It is essential that each individual essay carries the writer’s FULL name and FULL name and POSTAL ADDRESS of the school.

Every essay is carefully read and we have a team of judges that meets to do this. For this reason, essays cannot be submitted by email: we  recieve many hundreds and we need to read and re-read them.  We  are happy to receive essays that are either handwritten or produced on a computer - for the latter, simply  print off the  essay and post it to us.

In reading through the essays to select prizewinners, the judges will be looking for:

1. evidence that the student has read and understood the New Testament account(s) of the incident concerned
2. a  vivid description of this event, written as though the author was actually present
3. recognition of the impact made by Christ on those around him, such that later a Church was to come into being with him as its centre of devotion
4. good clear English
5. good spelling and punctuation
6. reasonably neat presentation, whether the work is handwritten or produced on a computer
7. evidence that real thought, interest and imagination have been brought to the task

WHAT WE DO NOT WANT:

We will obviously reject out of hand any work that is merely copied from something produced by others and available on the Internet.

We like original artwork but are unimpressed by clip art produced from a computer

It is not necessary to attempt to reproduce scrolls or the look and feel of an old document  by burning the edges of paper to create a scroll-effect, using brown paper etc. It is better to convey the sense of the historical significance of the events by the language and style used.

We do not want anything too bulky or messy – essays more than five pages of A4 in length are unsuitable as are elaborate trimmings such as large plastic folders, laminating, or lots of ribbons and fastenings.