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Chapters are well on their way to implementing an impressive lineup of scholarship, leadership, service and fellowship activities. The Hallmark Awards Program provides chapters the opportunity to compete for awards recognizing these outstanding activities. Although requirements for each award category vary slightly, most require an essay and various supporting materials. To make sure your awards entries reflect the best of your chapter, consider the following tips from judges and award-winning chapters. Start Now. Winning chapters know that preparing award applications is a lengthy process. If your chapter hasn’t done so already, now is the time to give assignments to your awards committee members and begin writing the first drafts of your essays. Follow directions. Entry cover sheets will be available to chapters at www.ptk.org in November. The cover sheets provide detailed directions for each awards category. Be sure that all people involved in the entry preparations, even those writing letters of recommendation, read and follow directions carefully. By doing so, your chapter’s application can leap ahead of others who were not so careful. Remember English Composition. Write award essays as you would a paper for an English Composition class. The best essays contain a defined thesis statement, several supporting paragraphs and a formal conclusion. With the thesis statement, the chapter tells the reader the purpose for the chapter’s selection of activities. The supporting paragraphs allow the chapter to build upon the ideas presented in the thesis by including details of the activities. Finally, the conclusion allows the chapter to tie their activities together with an end result. Choose Your Style. Both essays with a theme and those with a straightforward detailed approach win awards. Flowery words and pretty paper can only take your entry so far. What really impresses the judges is the quality of your chapter’s programming. Caution your writers not to become so focused on weaving a theme through the entire essay that they lose sight of the real purpose of the essay - to clearly convey to the judge the impact of the chapter’s activities. Avoid the Laundry List. Essays should not be a list of every event the chapter conducted. Instead, pick three to five exceptional activities and elaborate on them in the essay. Reserve the complete list of all chapter activities for a particular hallmark for the chronological list. Conclude with effects. In the conclusion, describe the effect your chapter’s programs had on others. Rather than using a general conclusion like, “we are all better for having participated in the activity,” try a more detailed conclusion like, “As a result of our efforts, an inactive chapter is now participating in the Five Star Program for the first time.” Keep lists brief. Make the chronological list brief. Organize information for chronological lists in an easy-to-read format by using columns or tables. Use short sentences when description is necessary, and, remember, neatness counts. The chapter at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, made the compilation of its chronological lists a team effort. “All of us [Hallmark officers] kept a tally of everything our chapter did even if it was not in our Hallmark, so that nothing was missed,” says 2001-02 Vice President of Scholarship Michelle DeZiel. Proof and proof again. In the judging process, entries containing grammatical errors are not automatically disqualified. However, this can be a factor in a judge’s final decision. When a chapter submits an entry containing errors, this conveys the message that the chapter did not take the competition as seriously as the chapter who corrected its errors in the proofreading process. In the end, this can be a factor in deciding whether your entry moves to the “yes” pile. Proofreading enabled the chapter at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Mississippi, to test their message before submitting it for judging. “Whenever you are putting that much time into writing an essay, you are very involved in it. You may know what you are talking about, but your reader may not,” says Nina Fischer, 2001-02 Vice President of Scholarship. “Having others proofread your essays allows you to get input and advice from a fresh perspective.” Proofreading also led to a new perspective for the chapter at Anoka-Ramsey. “The proofing process really established my vision in words and gave me time to reflect on the things I had done all year and how I had grown,” recalls DeZiel. “It is not about winning an award; it’s about reflecting on the lives that you have changed.” Need more information? Samples of winning essays can be found at www.ptk.org/hallmarks/resources.htm. For questions contact Director of Chapter Programs Tracee Walker at tracee.walker@ptk.org or 601.984.3524.
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