<2007 English Essay Contest – Remarks from Judges>
Excellent Originality & Voice: Huge Sucess!
Nah Hee-kyung and Na Yoon-hee, Professors, Dept. of English Language and Literature
As judges of the “2007 English Essay Contest” hosted by the Chonnam Tribune, we highly encourage all the participants in the contest to join us in celebrating this year’s event. It was a huge success. We feel that it is a privilege to glimpse the wonderful thoughts and perspectives of both high school and college students on a variety of topics including their happiest moments, text message addiction, the functions of local universities and the qualities of good political leaders in Korea. It was such a thrill to read students’ innovative ideas and thoughts drawn from their hearts and their life experience. Praise goes out to all of the participants who have demonstrated their passion, enthusiasm and intellect through a language with which they are not obviously comfortable.
It is indeed a painstaking process to write a good essay in English. We can clearly see that the participants have struggled to reach beyond the confines of their limited English proficiency to find a proper thesis for the given topic, develop creative ideas, provide support and evidence for each discussion point and present their ideas in a “publishable” format. Despite the strenuous efforts exerted by each of the participants, however, many of the essays were disqualified for several reasons: some essays were not on topic; others were not sufficiently argued or supported by convincing evidence; still others contained too many errors in terms of written conventions: grammar, spelling and punctuation, as well as word choice and sentence construction.
To our delight, this year’s winning essays have far exceeded the basic criteria described above. In addition to their excellent focus, organization and language use, the winning essays all exhibited two striking features any good essay should have: originality and voice. The grand prize-winning essay, in particular, proposed and developed creative ideas for innovating local universities to better serve college students. This theme was developed through the selection of cases and examples and the presentation of critical analysis and creative alternatives throughout the entire essay. In addition, this essay fully captured the reader’s attention using a compelling voice and the flow of the essay kept the reader engaged throughout the entire text. We wouldd like to give all the winners our heart-felt words, “good job!”
For those of you who are considering re-entering the competition next year or participating in other essay contests of this kind, we would like to conclude this commentary with a few suggestions. Essay writing involves a chain of thinking, researching, drafting, revising, and editing. Since an essay has a set topic, it is really important that you understand exactly what the question is asking you to do and you define the topic. Remember that an essay is an informed argument. To inform others, you first have to inform yourself. A good way of doing this is to assemble a reading list of material relevant to possible essay topics. You must make notes on the material you are reading. Make sure you keep a full record of the source of the information you are recording. When you start writing, it is usually better to keep your sentences short and sharp rather than long and florid. Please take care to write full sentences and spell words correctly. Mechanics such as spelling, grammar and punctuation definitely affect an essay’s “readability.” Finally, remember to proof-read your work carefully before submission.