Essay Contests

Summary

Essay contests are used to collect stories and opinions about a community and engage people in thinking about the community's future. They can be very open-ended or be directed to address specific community planning or character issues.

Tool Description

Essay contests are used to collect stories or other writing about a community.  They are most frequently used in schools, but can be public contests open to any community members.  Contests can be very open-ended or can have specific topics or directed questions.

Essay contests are used frequently by communities to increase excitement and interest about specific projects or initiatives and to gain feedback on targeted questions.  Essay contests could be developed to find out what citizens love about their communities, how they would describe community character, or what they think of certain proposals.

Essay contests are typically very inexpensive and easy to run and set up, requiring only someone to organize and publicize the contest and perhaps a donated prize.

Summary of Costs

$0-99
Associated Costs
  • Project Management
  • Other

Strengths

  • Essay contests are an easy way to gain information, stories, and suggestions from a large number of people, and to get a sense of what is important to them.
  • Essay contests can be organized for very little money and with little time or expertise.
  • Essays are very versatile; a contest can be run and shared on many platforms (social media, blogs, local newspapers) and can be appealing to a wide range of people.

Limitations

  • If contests are not highly-directed, then the information received may not be especially useful.
Submitted By: svannostrand
Last Updated: August 28, 2012, 4:28 pm

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