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CURRENT CONTEST OPS--FCTE WRITING & LEDGER EDITORIAL
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--STUDENT WINNERS SELECTED FOR FCTE AWARDS FOR 2008:
Kathryn P
Olivia W
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30th Year: Student Editorial Contest
Published: Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 12:50 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, October 2, 2008 at 3:01 a.m.
Every year when school opens, The Ledger invites students to write
editorials, and teachers to enter their students' best examples in the
newspaper's Student Editorial Writing Contest.
This is the 30th year in which The Ledger has sponsored the contest.
The contest moves a bit later into the fall this year at the request of the
school system. This change will match the schedules and course work of
English, language-arts and other teachers better.
The purpose is the same, though - for student writers to persuade readers
that their opinions hold the best solutions for the problems posed.
While editorial writing results in opinion, the most convincing editorials
are based on strong foundations of fact and logic.
The students writing editorials for the contest not only hone their
persuasive-writing skills, they expand their sources and approaches to
research, and they apply the principle of cause and effect in explaining
their conclusions.
We conduct the contest in three divisions: Elementary, Middle School and
High
School. Elementary editorials must be between 100 words and 150 words.
Middle
and high school editorials must between 300 words and 400 words.
We have made the rules available to the school system, which is distributing
them among public and private schools; homeschooled students are eligible as
well. The rules are also posted online at
www.theledger.com/studenteditorialrules
The students must choose one of three topics on which to write:
--Offshore oil drilling: The House of Representatives and the
Senate passed bills in September to end the ban on drilling for oil off the
coast of the United States, except for Florida's gulf coast. Will the
ability
to drill in coastal U.S. waters reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil
supplies? Will it cut the cost of gasoline, diesel fuel and heating oil? Do
the benefits of offshore oil drilling outweigh the environmental risks from
which the 1981 offshore-drilling ban sought to protect?
--Change Florida's minimum driving age to 17: A report
produced
by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in September recommended that
states raise the age for obtaining a driver's license to 17 (or even 18). It
cited studies of drivers in New Jersey, the only state with a minimum age of
17 for a driver's license. They show that among 16- and 17-year-olds a
smaller percentage is killed in auto crashes in New Jersey vs. the nearby
states of Connecticut and Delaware. Would a 17-year-old driver's license
requirement in Florida save lives? Would it cause problems related to
education, employment or family matters for 16-year-olds? Would benefits of
an age requirement of 17 outweigh problems of not being able to drive at 16?
--Replace the electoral college with the popular vote: U.S.
voters do not elect the president and vice president directly. Rather, they
vote for electors who are pledged to their candidates. The electors form the
electoral college, and they cast the votes that determine president and vice
president. Should the nation replace the electoral college with the popular
vote, under which the candidates receiving the most votes from voters would
win the presidency and vice presidency? Would a popular-vote system be more
fair? Would some states be ignored by presidential campaigns if the
electoral
college were replaced by a national popular vote?
The entries are due at The Ledger on Friday, Nov. 7.
The editorials will be screened by the Communications Department of Florida
Southern College. Ledger editors will choose the winners.
The winning editorials will be published in The Ledger and
on TheLedger.com over three days in December - one day for each school
division. Videos of the first-place winners reading their winning entries
will accompany their editorials on TheLedger.com.
The top-three writers in each division will win plaques and cash awards:
$250
for first place, $200 for second place and $150 for third place.
Students, start your editorials. Rev up your research. Lock down your logic.
Most importantly, write clearly and convincingly.
[ Glenn Marston is editorial page editor. E-mail:
glenn.marston@theledger.com. Phone: 863-802-7600. ]
**FINAL COMPETITORS: SEE THE LEDGER WEB SITE TO PUT THE FINAL
STUDENT/TEACHER INFORMATION ON YOUR PAPERS!!
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MARTIN LUTHER KING ESSAY CONTEST
See downloads--it's a PDF file.
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