By Nina Hendricks/Sarah Maples DAR
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) partnered with the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) in 1996 to sponsor an annual national essay contest in honor of Christopher Columbus. The contest is open to students 9 through 12. Each year the DAR and the NIAF agree upon a topic for use during the academic year, and contest instructions are published online and sent to the schools by DAR chapters.
The topic this year is ” Compare Christopher Columbus’s voyage across the Atlantic and Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic.”
Elizabeth Dickens has been chosen by the Sarah Maples Chapter as this year’s winner. She is a student at Mabank High School and we are so very proud of her. Her essay was wonderful and her choice of words made it all come together.
Essays are judged for historical accuracy, adherence to the topic, organization of materials, interest, originality, spelling, grammar punctuation, and neatness. Judging at the national level is supervised by the NIAF. One winning essay from all those submitted is sent from the participating chapters for judging on the state level. The state will send one winning essay to be judged on the division level. The winning essay from each division is then judged on the national level and the winner is announced. Second and third place winning essays are selected on the national level.
Each student participant receives a certificate of participation from the chapter. The national prize is awarded by the NIAF. This year something else has been added about Charles Lindbergh.