The essay must be a contestant s original work and a product of the contestant s own thinking. Quotations may be used sparingly if plainly identified wherever used. A contestant s teacher, counselor or parent may check the essay for punctuation, grammar and spelling. All entries should be typewritten in English and cannot be less than 300 words or more than 400 words. Essays that do not meet the word count will be eliminated.
Every word is counted regardless of length.
When numbers are used as part of an essay, they will be counted in the same fashion as a word. The essay title does not contribute to the word count . A contestant must be a student enrolled in either the 7 th or 8 th grade of a public, private, parochial school or a home-study program in the United States, its territories or possessions. Students also may be enrolled in an overseas school as a dependent of U.S. military or U.S. civilian personnel to be eligible to enter this contest. Deadline - Completed essay must be in the hands of the VFW Post Chairman by Dec. 1, 2001.