The deadline is 5 PM CST on March 28 for students to submit essays to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans for its annual high school and middle school essay contests. This year marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day, and the themes focus on the situations soldiers faced as they approached the beach in northern France on June 6, 1944. For more information, consult the contest website, here.
Troops in an LCVP landing craft approach Omaha Beach on D-Day. Note helmet netting; faint “No Smoking” sign on the LCVP’s ramp; and M1903 rifles and M1 carbines carried by some men. (Photo: Army Signal Corps Collection/US National Archives via Wikimedia)
High school contest
The high school contest is open to all high school students in the United States, US territories, and military bases. Essays must be 1,000 words or less. Only one essay per student may be submitted. The museum will accept the first 500 properly formatted entries only. The website will indicate when we are approaching 500 submitted essays.
The first-place prize is $1,000, second-place $750, and third-place $500.
On June 6, 2014, the world will celebrate the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion to liberate Europe from Nazi rule. To commemorate the importance of this event, The National WWII Museum asks you to think about a time in your life where you have had to make important plans for success in spite of uncertainty.
For your essay, please address the following questions: How did you plan to achieve success in the face of the unknown? How did you handle any challenges to reach your goal? How does your story connect to those of other people, past and present, who have had to face and overcome tremendous odds to obtain their goal? Use WWII as a starting point and base your essay in part on America’s involvement in WWII. But don’t stop in the past. Use speci c examples from your own experiences that support your ideas.
This is NOT a research paper. Your essay will be judged foremost for its originality, clarity of expression, and adherence to contest theme, as well as its historical accuracy, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Museum staff will read and evaluate the entries.
All essays should:
- be double spaced
- have 1 inch margins
- include page numbers
- include an essay title
- be typed in [use] 12 point font
- be in Microsoft Word or a compatible format
Middle school contest
The same content, formatting, and deadline rules apply as with the high school contest, but the prizes are different. One winning essay will be selected from each middle school grade, and the winner will receive a $250 prize.
Good luck to all writers. For starting points for your research, see the page here.
