From the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Essay Contest!
The Ocean Awareness Essay Contest is a great way to explore a career as a science writer–and possibly win thousands of dollars doing it! The goal of the From the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Essay Contest is to challenge high school students to think critically about real challenges facing the ocean. Winning essays can earn students (and their school) up $2,500 in prize money. Contest information can be found at www.fromthebowseat.org/.
Submissions will be accepted September 15, 2012 – June 15, 2013
Although this contest may seem to be all about science, Becca Carifio, one of last year’s winners, has useful advice for this year’s contestants:
- Enter! You can’t win if you don’t try.
- Write about something that you feel passionate about. Even though there are proposed essay questions, students can ask contest organizers for permission to write about another topic.
- Make it personal. Include your own experiences, opinions, or observations.
- Be entertaining. After all, judges will be reading a lot of essays.
- Proofread and edit. You can never edit too many times!
Have you ever considered a career as a “science interpreter?” Now, more than ever, there is a need for scientifically-literate communicators to share their knowledge in a way that is engaging and meaningful to the general public. Their work involves interviewing scientists, reading scientific journals, and experiencing the process of doing science themselves. Then they must go a step further to translate that into scientifically-accurate stories for kids, as well as for decision makers, such as natural resources managers, elected officials, and voters.
