BEDFORD – Fourth and fifth-grade students in the North Lawrence Community School system are invited to write essays for Mother’s and Father’s Day. The Contest is an old tradition of Bedford Downtown Merchants sponsoring essay contests for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
Mother’s Day is May 12th. Father’s Day is June 16th. Since Father’s Day is during summer break, both essays should be turned in by April 19. This gives the Bedford Revitalization Inc. (BRI) group time to judge the essays before Mother’s Day. The student with the winning essays will be announced before May 10th.
BRI President Susan Gales is excited about the upcoming contest.
“We have no idea how many children will submit essays, but whether we get 15 or 1500 submitted essays, we’re looking forward to reading them,” said Gales.
The theme of the essays is “Why is My Mother Special” or “Why is My Father Special.” Students may write an essay for each contest.
The contest is open to any North Lawrence student, whether public, private, or home-schooled. The essays are to be 100-300 words and may be hand-written or typed. With NLCS students having Chrome tablets, many students may elect to submit their essays electronically.
Gales said the essays may be sent to info@downtownbedford.org or, if handwritten, mailed to BRI, PO Box 591, Bedford, IN 47421. She advised each contestant to ensure their name, contact information, grade, and school are included with the essay.
Judges will take a liberal view of who represents a parent, so students are welcome to write their essays about a grandparent, foster parent, stepparent, or whoever fills the parental role in their lives. Artwork is encouraged but not required with their essays.
Gift baskets will be awarded for each contest, with contents donated by local merchants.
Gales said the downtown merchants have been very generous, and the basket contents represent many fun things for the students and their parents to receive or do together, including meals out, a concert, and many gift cards and items from around the square. Excerpts from the essays will be provided to the media and hopefully posted around the square.
“We’re really looking forward to reading the essays and seeing how special our children think their parents are,” added Gales.
For questions, contact Teena Ligman at tdligman@att.net or call 812-278-0139.
