2007 Essay Contest Secondary Winner 

2007 Essay Contest Postsecondary Winner

ACTE Announces 2007 Essay Contest Winners

Purpose
The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) sponsors an essay contest in the memory of former ACTE Senior Director of Communications, Cliff Weiss (1951-2004). Cliff Weiss had a passion for career and technical education. He believed very strongly in the value of career and technical education and always felt privileged to be involved in bringing the message of this value to the public. Cliff shared his gift for writing and with it, enhanced everything that was done at ACTE. The purpose of this contest is to recognize CTE students who share the same passion and talents. One entry in each category, secondary and postsecondary, will be selected to receive an award of $250.

Eligibility
Entrants must be either secondary or postsecondary students enrolled in at least one career and technical education course.

Evaluation Criteria
The essays will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Content
  • Relationship to topic
  • Logically organized
  • Clarity of message
  • Expressiveness
• Technical Quality
  • Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation

The essays will be judged by the ACTE Public Information Committee and/or the ACTE Communications Committee. The essays will be judged on a point system based on the criteria above. Judges will have final say and entrants may not challenge or appeal.

Topic
The 2008 topic for secondary students is "How would you communicate the impact and importance of CTE related to your community?"

The topic for postsecondary students is "How do you envision the type of programs and course content in career and technical education evolving over the next few years and what is driving this change?"

Application Procedures
Each entrant shall submit the following:

1. Secondary students must submit an essay no more than 500 words in length. Postsecondary students must submit an essay at least 500 words in length.
2. Entrants may only submit one essay.
3. Essays must be typewritten on 8 ½ x 11 sheets.
4. Essays must be submitted as Microsoft Word Documents.
5. Do not send essays bound in notebooks.
6. Entrants must include a cover sheet, which clearly states their name, address, phone number, email, school name, teacher’s name, school’s phone number and the category (either secondary or postsecondary) and the topic that they chose.
7. Entrants may not include their name anywhere on the essay itself.
8. Essays should be mailed to ACTE Headquarters to the address below. Mailed essays should include a copy saved to a diskette as well as a hard copy.
9. All entries become the property of ACTE and will not be returned.
10. ACTE will notify the winning entry only.

Award-Winning Essays

1. ACTE reserves the right to publish, reproduce, copy and display winning essays.
2. ACTE will only notify the winner by telephone, regular mail, or email according to the information provided on their cover sheet.
3. The winning essays will be published in Techniques as well as displayed on the ACTE web site.
4. The winner of each category, (secondary and postsecondary), will receive $250.

Deadline
Essays must be received at ACTE headquarters no later than midnight Eastern Monday, March 31, 2008. No essays will be accepted after this date.

Completed essays can be submitted by e-mail at essaycontest@acteonline.org or by mailing it to this address: The Cliff Weiss Memorial Essay Contest, Association for Career and Technical Education, 1410 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314