Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Prattaugan Museum is hosting an open ended, high school level essay contest, where essentially the only requirement is that the essay must circle around Autauga County history.
Submissions are due May 1st and can be submitted to Museum@autaugahistory.org. All high school level writing students, even ones living outside of Autauga County, are encouraged to submit their Autauga County historical essay.
“We really wanted to do something to partner with the school systems and have students get involved. If there’s a student younger that can write a high school grade essay they are encouraged to submit. This contest is geared for quality rather than age or grade,” Prattaugan Museum Director Jordin M. Scott said.
There is no word or page limit within the submission requirements. However, all uses of information from books and or research must be properly cited in the format of the writer’s choice.
“They could cover any aspect of Autauga County history, native American history, the floods, Daniel Pratt, even if their family was based here and they wanted to write an essay narrative about their family history in Autauga County, that would be perfectly acceptable,” Smith said.
Smith confirmed that there will be numerous volunteer judges that will read and vote on the essays. The top three essays will be displayed in a special section within the Prattaugan Museum’s website as well as published in the archive room.
The first-place grand prize winner will receive $100 as well as being published on the website and in the archive room as well.
This year there’s a wide array of expertise from the volunteer judges, as they range from individuals who have lived in Autauga County for over 40 years to college students, smith confirmed.
“It’s been about a decade or longer since we’ve done this. We wanted to revive what we’ve done in the past and remind students that we’re here. No word count or page limit. Anything they’ve written and they are proud of they should submit it,” Smith said.
