American History Essay Contest for 5th through 8th graders

The topic of the 2019/2020 D.A.R. American History Essay Contest is "The Voyage of the Mayflower." The year 2020 marks the 400th Anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower and the founding of the Plymouth Colony. Imagine you are one of the passengers on the Mayflower. Knowing what materials were available in 1620, what would you have packed to prepare for the trip and starting a new life in the wilderness? After experiencing more than two months at sea and then finally landing at Plymouth Colony on November 9, 1620, do you think you would have made different choices and why?

Fifth-graders are invited to submit original work of 300 to 600 words. Sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders may submit original work of 600 to 1000 words. Interested teachers and students may email Lynn Watters, Signal Hill Chapter Historian for complete contest rules, at signalhillhistorian@outlook.com or for questions call (630) 935-7131, or check at your local school.

The deadline for entries is December 1, 2019. Teachers of interested students can arrange for essays to be collected from area schools. Alternatively, essays may be emailed to the above address.

Winners will be notified by mail in January 2020.

Signal Hill Chapter will host the Youth Awards Day at the Barrington Library on Sunday February 23, 2020 at 2:00PM., to honor the top three essay winners in each age group. First place winning essays (one from each grade level) are automatically forwarded to the Illinois District IV competition. In total there are five levels in this national competition: Chapter, District, State, Division (Regional) and finally National. Winners at the National level receive a monetary award and an expense-paid trip to attend the National Awards ceremony at the NSDAR Continental Congress, Washington, D.C., held in June 2020.