Middletown Historical Society 2024 Historical Research Paper Contest

  1. The Society looks forward to awarding up to $3500 in prize money.  First place shall receive $2000.
  2. Students must be in 9th, 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. Please see citation guidance in “Middletown Historical Society Research Paper Resources”.  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 to use the resources of the Middletown Historical Society. 
  6. The topic is interviewing a person of your choice born prior to 1960.  Compare and contrast their reflections of their life up to age 20 with what life was like in Middletown during that same period utilizing primary resources.   
  7. Contestants must register in person at the Middletown Historical Society, 216 N. Broad Street.  Students will fill out a registration form and declare who they will be interviewing.    If necessary your first selected person may be changed, but the new choice must be added to the registration document.
  8. 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 # ________”
  9. It is preferred that a PDF copy of the paper be emailed to mhistoricalsociety@gmail.com on or before Friday, November 1st, 2024. Submitted papers must be in 12 point font, Times New Roman and double spaced.   Please see “Judging Matrix” for more information.
  10. Winners will be notified to attend the award ceremony during the Society’s monthly meeting at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 19th, 2024.  Students are requested to 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.
  11. Questions may be directed to Mary Alice Aguilar at: mhistoricalsociety@gmail.com.