New Historical Essay Competition

[Primus Pilus]

Approximately two years ago, UNRV hosted our first modest writing competition. At the time, as the site and the community were a rather fledgling operation, we decided to entertain a very basic creative (fictional) writing contest. We received several excellent entries (the winners) and were pleased with the overall results. However, for reasons now long since forgotten, we never returned to the writing contest and have instead focused on various book giveaways. While these may have helped build our community, we can't be sure that they have truly inspired the advancement of historical study or of this site/forum in particular. Thanks to a generous and completely unexpected donation to our prize pool along with a suggested course of action, it seems the time is right to revisit this original concept. However, as my own rather modest attempts at writing forms the basis of the site's origination, this contest will focus on historical essay writing rather than fiction.

 

Without further adieu...

 

This will be an exercise in historical essay writing (not Fiction).

 

Submissions and subjects are almost entirely open to the personal preference of the writer (to allow each to follow his/her own strengths in subject matter). However submissions must follow one of three general and broad categories:

1. Politics/Government/People (Republic, Principate, Dominate all acceptable)
   
2. General Society (art, architecture, language, daily life, social customs, religion)
   
3. Roman Military (individual legions, wars, battles...)
   

Prizes

The first place winner will receive his/her choice of a US$75 gift certificate from Amazon.com (or .co.uk) or a gift card from VCoins.com Ancient Coin Dealers.

 

Second and third place winners will each receive a US$25 gift certificate from the same establishments.

 

Essay length should be between 1,000 and 3,500 words and is entirely up to the discretion of the writer. Length will only be a factor for determining a winner in how that length relates to the quality of the particular document submitted. It will not be an independent criteria for judgment.

 

Judgment of the competition winners will be based upon general quality of the submission (spelling, grammar, style, etc.), the overall concept of the essay and it's accuracy (footnote documentation or particular source references should be provided where warranted and lack thereof may affect the ultimate "score" of the essay). Additional emphasis will be placed upon article originality and the writer's ability to express their own individual conclusions or observations based upon the research they've done. Judging will be provided by a panel of our Site administrators, moderators and the Patricii member group (excluding any of these groups who wishes to submit an entry).

 

Dates of Entry

All essays must be received by midnight eastern standard time (GMT -5) on the Ides of March (March 15), 2007. Judging will begin immediately thereafter and prize winners announced shortly thereafter.

 

Eligibility

Participants must be registered members of this UNRV.com forum (you may register at any time) and entries should be limited to 1 per person.

 

Where to submit

All entries should be submitted in one of 2 possible ways:

Email the entry to Primuspilus@unrv.com either as an attached MS Word .DOC file or as a paste directly into the email body...

Or send the document to Chris Heaton (Primus Pilus) via this forum's instant message system (included as an option within that link).

 

Publication

All submissions can and likely will be published permanently on UNRV.com for public consumption. The writer retains original copyright ownership but grants UNRV.com the right to publish by virtue of the submission.

 

A very special thanks goes to our own Gaius Octavius for providing the inspiration to revisit this concept.

 

Comments, questions or general discussion of this contest should be directed HERE.