Jesus Created Ministries (JCM) Creation Essay Contest Guidelines

JCM proudly announces its first creation-essay contest.  The goal of the contest is to motivate students to examine the claims of and debate between creation and evolution—including the logical implications of each claim with respect to one’s view of origin, purpose, morality, and destiny.  JCM will be awarding cash prizes of $500, $300, and $200 for first, second, third place, respectively.

The contest is open to all Oklahoma students ages 12-18 (as of June 15, 2009) whose parent/legal guardian has completed a JCM Creation Essay Contest Registration Form.  (This form states the student is in agreement with the recent creation, global-flood view of earth history as presented in the Bible and agrees to the JCM Creation Essay Contest Guidelines.)

        The essay must be the unpublished, original work of the student, between 750 and 1,250 words.  Approved topics include:  biblical discussion of origins, relevance of the creation/evolution debate, insights into creation from an area of science (biology, geology, astronomy, etc.), other themes the student believes would support/promote the recent creation/global-flood view of earth history.  All references must be properly documented in the essay.  The essay must be submitted in electronic form.  Acceptable formats are:  MS Word 1997-2007 (.doc or .docx), Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), Rich Text (.rtf), MS Works 6.0-9.0 (.wps), plain text (.txt).  Do not include the name of the student in the essay (header or title).

      The essay must be emailed to EssayContest@JesusCreated.org by 11:59 pm, June 15, 2009.  Include the name of the submitting student in the email but not on the actual attached essay—to avoid any appearance of bias.  An acknowledgement email will be sent stating that JCM received the essay. 

The completed and signed JCM Creation Essay Contest Registration Form must be postmarked by June 15, 2009 and mailed to Jesus Created Ministries at 5103 S. Sheridan Road #213, Tulsa, OK 74145.  Please complete and mail this form as early as possible.  This will give JCM an idea of the number of entries to expect.  The first 100 registration forms postmarked on or before May 15, 2009 and who submit an essay by the contest deadline will receive a free creation-science book by Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis) or Dr. Don DeYoung (Institute for Creation Research/Creation Research Society). JCM will mail books by July 31, 2009.  See registration form for book titles.

Student’s age will be taken into consideration during judging.  The general judging criteria will be as follows:

25% - Quality of the Topic:  To what extent does the essay support/promote the recent creation/global-flood view of earth history given in the Bible or show the weaknesses in the naturalistic/evolutionary viewpoint?

25% - Understanding: How well did the student understand the subject matter? Did he/she demonstrate a good grasp of the subject and make relevant points in the essay?

25% - Presentation: Was the information presented effectively?  Were the subject matter and points of the essay clear and easily understood?  Did the essay demonstrate excellence in its presentation of the topic?

15% - References: Was the reference material appropriate?  Did the student make good use of reference material in presenting the subject matter and points of the essay?

10% - Details: Spelling, grammar, and other English-related details.

Send all essay contest questions to EssayContest@JesusCreated.org.  JCM will post answers on http://www.JesusCreated.org/events/EssayContest2009.php

 

Judges:

Clint Bishard: Clint has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University.  He served in the telecommunications industry as a Chief Technologist, and now donates his time to Jesus Created Ministries. He hopes to help restore our culture to a biblical worldview and its need for the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Mark Fox: Mark has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Option in Finance from California State University, Chico. Mark has also studied Electrical Engineering at DeVry Institute of Technology.  Mark believes every major biblical doctrine is properly understood only when the biblical account of creation is taken literally. Mark’s hope and prayer is for every Christian to be convinced of the relevance and authority of God’s entire Word from Genesis to Revelation.

 

Tim Jackson: Tim has a Bachelor and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University.  Tim also served on active duty for 12 years in the US Air Force in a variety of positions, including Developmental Electrical Engineer and Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies.  He currently serves in government civilian service for the US Air Force as a Lead Electronics Engineer.  Tim has had a vital interest in the creation/evolution issue for some time.  He hopes to spread the truth about a young-earth creation and global flood as recorded in the book of Genesis to Christians everywhere.  He also hopes to encourage Christian parents to teach these truths to their children so they’ll be captivated by Jesus and never compromise on God’s inerrant Word.

 

Ryan Powell:  Ryan has a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Oklahoma State University and a Masters of Education from Northeastern State University.  Ryan is currently teaching high school biology.  Ryan and his family are in the process of raising support to become missionaries to France.

 

Sean Donnell:  Sean has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Oklahoma Baptist University and a Masters of Education from the University of Central Oklahoma.  He is currently teaching high school English.  Sean will focus his review on the organization, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions of each essay.  He and his family participate in and pray for Project Northern Lights—a prayer ministry that distributes Bibles to French nationals visiting their North African relatives.