Contest Rules

• Contest open to currently enrolled High School (or Senior High) students (and younger)
• 500 words maximum
• Open to students from around the world (as allowed by local law)
• Entries must be written in English
• Deadline for entry is October 31, 2010 at 11:59pm Pacific Time
• One entry per student and only one student per entry

• To submit your entry email your essay as a Word, Text, or PDF document to support@shmoop.com. No other media types will be accepted.

  You must include:

  • Your first and last name
  • Your age
  • Your grade level
  • School name
  • School City, State, Country
  • School phone number
  • Your English teacher's name

  By submitting your work to Shmoop, you give Shmoop permission to republish your essay, along with your name, school, city, and state.

The Fine Print

• No purchase necessary to enter.
• Contest void where prohibited by law.
• 1 student per entry (no group submissions allowed). Student must be currently enrolled in High School, Sr. High School, or equivalent (homeschooled students are welcome). If younger students (e.g. Middle School) want to give it a shot, we welcome your submissions, too.
• Prizes may not be exchanged for cash or other goods and are non-transferable.
• Finalists and winner will be selected by the sole discretion of Shmoop's judging panel. Sorry, we cannot provide individual feedback on entries.
• Can't Buy Me Love: Shmoop judges do not respond to any attempts to win favor (even if we have major weaknesses for chocolate, cupcakes, and roasted almonds).
• We'll make you Interwebs famous: By submitting an entry, you grant Shmoop University, Inc. an irrevocable, worldwide license to publish your work, in part or in its entirety, along with your name, school name, city, and state.
• Shmoop is all about inspiring original thought... let's keep this contest clean: By submitting an entry, you confirm that this work is entirely your original work and that you have not received any help from others. If you have relied on any other person or publication's thoughts to write your essay, you must cite your sources in MLA format. You acknowledge that Shmoop may use an anti-plagiarism service to verify that your essay is original and may inform your school administration if you have submitted plagiarized materials.
• No cash equivalent for Grand Prizes. Shmoop will not pay cash in lieu of our listed Grand Prizes.

Limitation of School-Wide VIP pass: if you're a homeschool student, you're welcome to enter. We won't, however, be able to make our VIP pass available to a school. If you attend a non-physical school, Shmoop reserves the right to limit VIP pass access to 1,500 students. For physical high schools, we'll roll out the VIP pass to everyone in your school.