“Optimist Korea Essay Competition Rules and Guidelines”

1. Optimist Korea has the right to edit, publish and reproduce works submitted to the competition.
2. There is no minimum age to participate in the competition, and it is open to youth under the age of 18 as of October 1, 2023.
3. Winners of 3rd place or higher in previous competitions cannot participate in the competition.
4. Participants must write and submit an English essay on the official theme of the competition.
5. Genres such as novels and poetry are not permitted, and works can only be submitted once.
6. You must write a title page (cover page), which must include the topic, number of words in the essay body, the author’s name, address, phone number, name of the school you are attending, and date of birth.
7. The subject must be written at the top of the title page and the top of the first page of the work. (3 points deducted for violation)
8. Essays must be typed and submitted in pdf or docx file format.
• (Based on MS Word, font: Times New Roman or Calibri, 11pt, line spacing 2.0) (5 points deducted for each violation, up to 15 points deducted)
9. The essay must be at least 700 words but no more than 800 words. Title pages, footnotes, and references are not included in the word limit, and words connected with a hyphen (-) are not included in the word limit.
Considered as one word. (5 points will be deducted for every 25 words if the word limit is insufficient or exceeded)
10. Each page of the essay, except the title page, must include a page number in the bottom center, and the page number must begin with 1.
11. Quotations or copyrighted parts must be indicated using appropriate citation format (MLA, APA, Chicago-style). (Disqualification in case of violation)
12. The essay must not include any information that could identify the participant, such as his or her name, parents, school, or community. (5 point deduction or degree
(partial deduction according to)
13. If it is confirmed that you used ChatGPT in the process of writing your essay, you may be disqualified.
Judging criteria
1. Logical and analytical composition of the work, relevance to the topic – 30 points
2. Creativity – 15 points
3. Vocabulary, expressions, and sentence composition – 30 points
4.Compliance with grammar, punctuation and spelling – 20 points
5. Compliance with other competition rules – 5 points