Mukilteo Historical Society offers an annual essay contest for graduating high school students who either live in or are the children or grandchildren of someone living in the Mukilteo, Coupeville, and South Whidbey School Districts. Additionally, children and grandchildren of members of MHS are eligible to enter an essay provided they are in their last year of high school. Home schooled students may submit essays provided they will be eligible to enroll in a post-secondary school in the Fall of the contest year.
One winner will be selected each year to receive a $1,500 prize to be applied to tuition expense, in the winner’s name, to the college, university, or trade school selected by the winner.
Essay Guidelines
Topic
There are no objective requirements other than that the essay topic must be related to some aspect of Mukilteo’s history. This can be just about anything or anyone from Mukilteo’s past, including from Native American cultures or from more recent times, e.g. the 1970s or 80s. Examples of topics: Building of Kamiak High School, Biography of an attendee at 1855 Point Elliott Treaty signing, History of Mukilteo Boulevard, Early days of Mukilteo School District, Annexation of Harbour Pointe, Interceptor jets stationed at Paine Field.
If your topic is a living person or private organization, be sure to get their documented permission to write about her/him/them or it for publication.
Length and Format
The essay must be in English and between 750 and 1,000 words in length, exclusive of citations and footnotes. All pages must be double-spaced.
Each entry must have a cover page with the title of the work, the author’s name, full mailing address, telephone number and email address. Every subsequent page must carry the title of the essay and a page number.
As all judging is anonymous, do NOT include the author’s name on any pages except for the cover page.
The essay must be an original work and not previously published. Plagiarism will result in disqualification. MHS archivists will review essays for historical accuracy.
Essay Submission
Deadline
Entries must be received by May 1. No submission will be accepted after that date.
Five finalists will be selected and reviewed by a panel of jurors. Juror credentials include published national magazine stories, decades teaching college level English, legal research and writing at high judicial levels, newspaper feature writing and years as public and private school educators including as School Principals.
The five finalists and the winner will be individually notified of the results by June 1.
Mukilteo Historical Society reserves First Rights on all submissions. All other rights to the essay remain the property of the author. At the discretion of MHS all essays may be published on the MHS Web site.
Email Submission
Submissions must be made as an Adobe PDF file attachment to an email directed to: Essays@MukilteoHistorical.org. All entries are final. No revisions are accepted.
There is no fee for submitting an essay. Membership in Mukilteo Historical Society is not required for submission.
Only one essay per author may be submitted.
Resources
You may search the MHS Photo Archive at the following link, https://mukilteohistorical.pastperfectonline.com/.
Articles from the Mukilteo Beacon can be searched through their website and the following link, www.mukilteobeacon.com.
The Everett Herald has many articles to get you started at the following link, https://www.heraldnet.com/search/.
And don’t forget to interview long-time residents to get a story that maybe didn’t make the newspapers.