NFPW Essay Contest 2009

FOREST PRODUCTS WEEK
ESSAY CONTEST OCTOBER 18-24, 2009

Winners & Honorable Mentions!

Forests provide us with many things-clean air and water; beautiful places to play and relax; homes for birds, fish and other wildlife; and numerous products for people. To celebrate National Forest Products Week (October 18-24, 2009) the Idaho Forest Products Commission sponsors a statewide essay contest.

JOIN THE FUN! Encourage your students to enter the contest to practice authentic writing and learn more about Idaho's forests.

Who may enter? ALL K-12 STUDENTS IN IDAHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE CONTEST

What are the submission requirements?
° Scroll down for the Background Statement, Writing Prompts and Scoring Criteria.
° Each essay must include the student name, teacher name, email, grade, school name and town.
(An easy way to accomplish this is to use adhesive labels.)
° Teachers: Submit only the top five essays per class. If you send more than five per class, the judges are unable to review your essays. Teachers with multiple sections of a class (e.g. Biology) may send the top five essays per class session. Please include a list of all students who complete an essay, so we may provide a Certificate of Participation for every student.

What are the prizes?
A $150 savings bond will be awarded as a grand prize. The Grand Prize winner will be chosen from among First Place winners in each of the four grade level categories. Each First Place Winner receives a beautiful certificate and a book. Each winner's teacher receives a voucher to attend one Project Learning Tree workshop, plus a book, posters and other resources. Honorable Mentions are named at each level. Every participating student receives a Certificate of Participation.

When are the essays due?
Essay submissions must be post-marked by October 30, 2009. Emailed submissions are not accepted!

Where should the essays be sent?
Send your essays (top five per class) to:

What if I have questions?
Visit our website at www.idahoforests.org, email plt@idahoforests.org, call 208-334-4061 or 800-ID-WOODS, or fax 208-334-3449.

BACKGROUND STATEMENT
Forests and trees provide many things-clean air and water; beautiful places to play and relax; homes for birds, fish and other wildlife; and numerous products for people. Many of these products, like wood and paper, are obvious. There are also many not-so-obvious products that come from trees.

One of the best things about trees is that they are a renewable resource. When you harvest trees, new ones grow or can be planted. With sustainable forestry practices, our forests can continue to provide their many benefits for generations to come.

WRITING PROMPT for Grades K-5*
Think about your daily life. How are you affected by products from trees and forests? Write an essay to a general audience sharing how tree and forest products touch your life, and why they are important to you. You may choose to consider one specific forest product, or generalize about a variety of products. (K-2nd graders may use any media for their "essay.")

WRITING PROMPT for Grades 6-12*
Imagine that you are in charge of taking care of Idaho's forests. What ideas do you have for keeping your forests healthy and productive so they can provide beauty, habitat, clean air and water, products and more? Write an essay to a general audience sharing your ideas about how and why you would manage Idaho's forests for the future.

*Teachers: Please revise the prompt as needed to best meet the needs of the grade level(s) you teach.

Grade levels and length
9th-12th graders: Up to 500 words	6th-8th graders: Up to 350 words
3rd-5th graders: Up to 250 words	K-2nd graders: May use any media

Scoring Criteria

Subcategories

Maximum points

Creative thinking
(25 points total)

Information shows individual thinking skills.

Content accuracy
(35 points total)

Clearly relates to the topic.

Is accurate and logical.

Provides supporting details and/or examples.

Clear writing including grammar, spelling and punctuation.
(30 points total)

Grammar, spelling and punctuation is correct.

Information is organized, neatly typed or written and has well constructed paragraphs.

Overall likeability
(10 points)

Reader was engaged by the writing and wanted to continue reading the essay.

Total (100 points)

100