ROBERT J. STUCKEY ESSAY CONTEST
The late Robert J. Stuckey was a member of the 1963 junior class of Farmington High School. Robert had planned to attend college. He was vitally interested in current events and enjoyed reading. He had a natural facility for architectural drawing and was also interested in music. Like most young men, Rober was interested in sports, particularly wrestling. This annual contest is presented in memory of Robert.
Contest Rules:
The contest is open to Missouri High School students (in the 9th through the 12th grades), and only one entry will be accepted from each school. Home-schooled students living in Missouri are also eligible to apply. Each school is to choose the essay to be submitted. Essays should not have been submitted to any previous contest or have been previously published. Common topics for essays are literary analyses, accounts of personal experiences and fictional short stories. Essays which review a single book are not acceptable.
Criteria for Judging:
Contest judges will be comprised of members of the Friends of the Libraries.
Entries will be judged on the basis of:
- Originality of thought
- Content
- Skill in organizing and presenting ideas and in marshaling evidence
- Grammar, spelling and composition
How to Apply:
Each essay should have a title and be between 1,200 and 1,500 words in length. Essays should be typed,
double-spaced on one side of paper. Initials of the student should be in the upper right hand corner of
each page. A 3” x 5” card with student’s name, gender, address, telephone number, name of school,
school address and teacher’s full name should be clipped to the upper left corner of the manuscript.
Essays become the property of the Friends of the University of Missouri Libraries upon receipt.
Deadline:
All entries must be received by email or postmarked by January 31, 2018.
Entries should be sent to:
- Sheila Voss
- 104 Ellis Library
- University of Missouri
- Columbia, MO 65201-5149
- vosss@missouri.edu
Prizes:
- First-place prize is $1,500
- Second-place prize is $750
- Teachers of the first and second-place winners also receive monetary prizes of $250 each
Contact Information:
If you have any questions about this contest, please contact
Sheila Voss at vosss@missouri.edu or at 573-882-9168.
Archive of Previous Winning Stuckey Essays
- 2017 Winner: Raechel Tittor, "More Than A Thousand Words"
- 2017 Runner Up: Lauren Slatterly, "A Time of Struggle, Complimented by Books"
- 2016 Winner: Brice Jansen, "The Girl in the Library"
- 2016 Runner Up: Andrew Sweeso, "On Truth and Literature"
- 2015 Winner: Connor Penrod, "Pillars"
- 2015 Runner Up: Abby Lammers, "The Persistence of Seuss"
- 2013 Winner: Courtnee Cargill, "My Story, My Truth"
- 2013 Runner Up: Roman Accardi, "The Best of Times"