Juniors who are sons or daughters of Cotton Electric Cooperative employees and board members are not eligible to participate. Employees and board members will not serve as judges.

     Some schools listed may include students whose parents receive electric service from another electric cooperative. If their electric cooperative does not participate in Youth Tour, such students will be allowed to enter Cotton Electric Cooperative’s contest. If their cooperative sponsors a Youth Tour contest, those students have an option to choose between the two cooperatives. Students will be ineligible if they enter more than one essay or more than one contest.

CONTEST DETAILS

The contest is broken into three rounds and starts with the essay contest. Area juniors may submit an essay of approximately 600 words to Cotton Electric.

Writers of the top 15 essays move to the second round, a live video interview. The question-and-answer video call between students and independent judges will be arranged by Cotton Electric.

        The top 5 will advance to the final round. The finalists will be required to make an oral presentation of their essay, either by a recorded video or as a presentation during a banquet at the co-op headquarters in Walters. (format determined by safety concerns at that time.) Videos/presentations will be judged by another set of judges and the final two winners will be determined.

Contest dates (*Safety concerns will affect the format.)

Jan. 18, 2022   Essay deadline – Essays must be submitted online by 3 p.m.

Feb. 10            Live video or in-person interviews of authors of Top 15 essays

Feb. 21            Video or in-person oral presentation of Top 5 essays.

*Check back on Jan. 18 for final decision between in-person or virtual contest formats.

CONTEST RULES

1. Topic for 2022 Essay is: “How has the Rural Electrification Act impacted America?”
2. Fill out all required fields and upload an essay of about 600 words on the above topic at www.CottonElectric.com/scholarship
3. Deadline is 3 p.m. January 18, 2022 for uploading completed essays.
4. All submissions are made anonymous before submission to judges.
5. Entry page on the Cotton Electric website will include links to some reference materials. Students are encouraged to seek other sources of information, including libraries, newspaper articles, websites, and magazines.  BE ORIGINAL!
6. Essay will be judged by the following criteria: Knowledge of subject, 40%; Originality, 30%; Composition, 10%; Grammar, 10%; and Spelling & Punctuation, 10%.
7. Independent judges will score the essays. The process will narrow the pool of candidates to 15.
8. In the second round of competition, the top 15 essayists will be invited to participate in a live-video interview or in-person interview (format determined by safety concerns at that time) to discuss the essay and general cooperative knowledge with independent judges. Two employees from other cooperatives will conduct the interviews and select 5 finalists.
9. Format for the final round will be determined by safety concerns at that time. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Format 1:  Finalists will record a video of themselves reciting their essay in a speech-type format. Videos should be 5 minutes or less in length and will be submitted via the Cotton Electric website. Format 2: Finalists, their parents, and supporting school faculty will be guests of Cotton Electric for a banquet held at the co-op headquarters in Walters each finalist will be asked to summarize their essay in a brief oral presentation.  
10. Final judging criteria will be based on Speaking Ability, Knowledge of Subject, Poise, and Personality & Appearance. A panel of three independent judges will rate each speaker. 
11. The two top presenters will be awarded either an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. in June 2022 or a $1,500 scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded only if safety conditions do not allow for travel. 
12. Judges’ decisions throughout the process are final. 

In addition to the information included on our website, students are encouraged to use other sources of information found at the local library or from the internet. Preparing for the Cotton Electric essay contest is a good way to work on creative writing skills that are important for all high school students, especially those planning to attend college.

These links will take you to pages on our website or they will open PDFs. Applicants are encouraged to research other sites and resources.

7 Cooperative Principles                     Cotton Electric History

Co-op 101

The Current Archive                             2019 Annual Report

For more information regarding the essay contest, call Cotton Electric at 580-875-3351 or email YouthPrograms@CottonElectric.com.