Okanagan Historical Society Student Award

Aims / Goals: To encourage the research and writing of Okanagan history by secondary and post-secondary students.

Eligibility: Students currently in Grades 9 to 12, or at any post-secondary institution.

Prize: 

• $1000.00 (one thousand dollars).
• Possible publication in Okanagan History, the annual publication of the Okanagan Historical Society.

General Criteria 

The essay must:

• Depict history which occurred in the geographic area encompassed by the Okanagan, Shuswap and Similkameen Valleys.
• Be suitable for publication in the Okanagan Historical Society’s Annual Report (Okanagan History book).
• Be submitted by email.
• Be minimum length of 1500 words to a maximum of 2500.
• Include a separate cover page that shows the student’s information.
• Student’s Information:
  • Student’s name and registration number.
  • Name of Institution.
  • Student’s telephone number and address.
  • Student’s E-mail address.
  • Title of essay.

Evaluation Criteria

The essay will be judged according to:

1. Historical Information

The degree to which the writer has gathered accurate information in different ways; has insightfully selected essential information; and has interpreted or synthesized that information.

2. Effective Communication

The quality of the historical content in that it effectively used rich, vivid detail in a style which engages and involves the reader.

The work is original, not cut-and-pasted from other sources.

3. Conclusions

The conclusions the writer makes which reflect clear, logical links between the information and interpretations based on relevant evidence; the way the writer describes his/her own thinking about the historical content which demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the historical issue(s).

4. Conventions of Writing

Demonstrated level of organization, correct sentence structure, usage, grammar, diction, mechanics, bibliography and references.

Use endnotes, not footnotes.

Send photos, if any, separately from text.