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John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Essay Contest

Topic
Students are asked to write an original and creative essay that demonstrates an understanding of political courage as described by John F. Kennedy in Profiles in Courage. The maximum word count is 1,000 with a minimum of 700, not including citations and bibliography. Use at least five varied sources such as government documents, letters, newspaper articles, books, and/or personal interviews to address the following topic:

Describe and analyze an act of political courage by a United States elected official that took place during or after 1956. Include an analysis of the obstacles, risks, and consequences associated with the act. The essay may concern an issue at the local, state, national, or international level.

Eligibility
The contest is open to United States high school students in grades nine through twelve attending public, private, parochial, or home schools; U.S. students under the age of twenty enrolled in a high school correspondence/GED program in any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, or the U.S. territories; and U.S. citizens attending schools overseas. Past winners and finalists are not eligible to participate. Employees of John Hancock Financial Services and members of their families are not eligible to participate.

Requirements
The contest deadline is Wednesday, January 6, 2016.
Essays can be no more than 1,000 words but must be a minimum of 700 words. Citations and bibliography are not included in the word count.
Essays must be the original work of the student.

John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Edward M. Kennedy are not eligible subjects for essays.

Essays about past recipients of the Profile in Courage Award  will be disqualified unless they describe an act of political courage other than the act for which the award was given. 

Essays must have a minimum of five sources.

Source Material
Essays with fewer than five listed sources will be disqualified.
All participants must cite sources they used to research their topic throughout their essay. Please use parenthetical citations within the text. We can not accept citations in footnote form.

Essays must include a bibliography. Accepted formats include APA, MLA, or Turabian. You must use a minimum of five selected sources. Please refer to Guidelines for Citations and Bibliographies.

Essay Submission
Students have the choice of either submitting their essay online (preferred) or of mailing their essay. All students must complete and submit a registration form online for student and school information. For instructions on how to submit your essay, see Registration and Submission.
Mailed in essays must be postmarked by January 6, 2016.

Nominating Teachers
All students must list the name of their nominating teacher on the registration form. The role of a nominating teacher is to provide students with support and advice during the writing of their essay. Nominating teachers are also asked to read students' essays to make suggestions for improvement before they are submitted to the essay contest. As part of this review process, the nominating teacher reviews the essay for syntax, grammatical, typographical and spelling errors and ensures the essay meets the contest requirements listed above. The first place winner and his/her nominating teacher, as representatives of their school, will be invited to receive awards at the annual Profile in Courage Award ceremony held each May at the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.
Nominating teachers can be former or current teachers, but must still be teaching at the same high school as the essay participant. Usually students ask their English or History/Social Studies teachers. In very few cases, we will make an exception if a student is unable to ask a teacher from their high school to be their nominating teacher. The parent or legal guardian responsible for the instruction of home schooled students can also serve as a nominating teacher.

Awards
The winner receives $10,000 comprised of a $5,000 cash award and $5,000 from John Hancock. The winner and his or her family are invited to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston in May to accept his/her award. Travel and lodging expenses will be paid for the trip to Boston for the winning student and his or her parents.
A second place winner receives a $1,000 cash award.
Up to five finalists each receive a $500 cash award.

All winners receive a hardcover copy of Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy.

For more information, go to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation website.

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