2007 BYU STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST RULES AND TIPSGuidelines and helpful tips for students writing for the magazine’s essay contest.THEME:
Mentoring memories. Write a personal essay based on a mentoring experience you’ve had while at BYU. Whether you were mentored—or were the mentor—in a classroom or a research lab, on a custodial crew or an athletics team, in a student ward or a freshman-orientation group, we want to hear about it.
RULES:
• Be nostalgic. Be witty. Be serious. Be whatever you want, but be it in 700 or fewer words.
• The first-place award is $750; the winning essay will be published in BYU Magazine and on the magazine Web site (magazine.byu.edu).
• The second- and third-place awards are $600 and $500, respectively; they will be published on the BYU Magazine Web site.
• Writer must be a full-time student (undergraduate or graduate) at the time of submission.
• All essays should be typed and double-spaced. Fill out a cover sheet. Write your name on the cover sheet only; do not write your name on the essay itself.
• Submit your original, unpublished entry to 218 UPB by 5 p.m. on April 9, 2007.
• Questions? Call 422-1963 or 422-4711, or e-mail peter_gardner@byu.edu.
TIPS:
Be Creative: Whatever your take on the topic Mentoring Memories, approach it creatively: tell a story; use descriptive diction; consider imagery, tone, and pacing. Remember, this is a personal essay, not an academic essay.
Be Polished: Do a spell-check; get feedback from a roommate; read the essay over one more time for glaring errors.
Be Focused: Center your essay on one event, idea, or theme. The 2002 winning essay contained several events, but they were all well tied together by a unifying concept.
Be Mindful of Audience: Remember that the winning essay will be published in BYU Magazine and should be appropriate for and of interest to its audience—BYU alumni, faculty, and students and friends of the university.
2006 BYU Magazine Student Essay Contest Winners:
First Place: “A Decade of Change,” by Richard D. Salgado (BA ’03)
Second Place: “Learning to Fly,” by Trevor W. Higbee (’07)
Third Place: “Instant Energy Expert,” by Julia E. DeLong (’07)
2005 BYU Magazine Student Essay Contest Winners:
First Place: “The Bells and BYU,” by Victoria A. Bradley (’05)
Second Place: “Ordinary Forks and Ordinary Folks,” by Melissa Draper
Third Place: “Handel’s Hallelujah,” by Alicia Packer
2004 BYU Magazine Student Essay Contest Winners:
First Place: “Higher Education,” by Benjamin John Bernards (’05)
Second Place: “Simple Wonder,” by Brenda Williams McKenna (’03)
Third Place: “A Guy’s Girl in a Women’s Dorm,” by TeriLyn Hutcheon (’07)
2003 BYU Magazine Student Essay Contest Winners:
First Place: “Common Cents Education,” by Erika Dahl Price (’97)
Second Place: “Of Solitaire and Sardines,” by Richard D. Salgado (’03)
Third Place: “Foreign Language Fairy Tales,” by Kara M. Andrus (’03)
2002 BYU Magazine Student Essay Contest Winners:
First Place: “I Change,” by Marilyn Nelson Nielson (’02)
Second Place: “From Bathrooms to Bizet,” by Erika Dahl Price (’97)
Third Place: “Sinai,” by Amberly Page (’02)
Download a cover sheet for your essay.
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