RULES FOR THE 2023 MHS HISTORICAL RESEARCH PAPER

Middletown Historical Society 2023 Historical Research Paper Contest

Rules for the Middletown Historical Society Research Paper 2023

Middletown Historical Society 2023 Historical Research Paper Contest Rules

  1. The Society looks forward to awarding a total of $3361 in prize money to be awarded at the discretion of the judges.  Judges will take into consideration available resources and scholarship in awarding cash prizes.
  2. Students must be in 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and reside in the Appoquinimink School District. Students may attend any school including home schools.
  3. Paper length: 1,500 to 2,500 words.  Up to 5 images may be embedded in the text; additional images may be included in a supplementary materials section following the text of the paper. 
  4. The paper is a historical research paper requiring citation of all sources and facts, quotes, etc. presented in the paper. Writers must use MLA (Modern Language Association) documentation style.  Your librarian can help with this.  The citation builder program https://www.citationmachine.net/mla is a very easy fill-in tool to use.  It will ensure you have all the elements required for proper citation of all source types.  Be sure to use Citation Style MLA-9 or MLA-8.
  5. Contestants are strongly advised, but not required, to use the resources of the Middletown Historical Society.  We have a large collection of local history information available.   Reference librarians at the Appoquinimink Public Library, Corbit-Calloway Memorial Library, and you school librarian will be good resources also.
  6. The topic will be an oral history of a local resident’s experiences growing up in the Middletown area.  Names will be selected from a list provided by the Historical Society.  
  7. Students are expected to expand on the interview and connect the interviewee’s history to what else was going on in the world at that time.
  8. Contestants must register in person at the Middletown Historical Society, 216 N. Broad Street.  Students will fill out a registration form and select a person to interview.    The selected person may be changed, but the new choice must be added to the registration document.
  9. The contest will be blind-judged.   A contestant number will be assigned at the time of registration, and will be the only writer identification on the judged paper.  Therefore, the title page will show: “The Title of your Paper”, and “Submitted by contestant # ________”
  10. It is preferred that a PDF copy of the paper be emailed to mhistoricalsociety@gmail.com  on or before Thursday, March 30th, 2023. Submitted papers must be in 12 point font, Times New Roman and double spaced. 
  11. Winners will be notified to attend the award ceremony during the society’s monthly meeting on May 16th, 2023 and must attend in person to receive the award. At the meeting the winners will read a portion of their paper and present a short commentary on the research experience.
  12. Questions may be directed to Mary Alice Aguilar at the above email address.