Patriot's Pen winners announced
<span>The VFW Post 3553 and Auxiliary in Chester recently announced the Patriot's Pen Awards for students in Chester and Steeleville grade schools.</span>
<span>This contest encourages young students to examine American history and to take a look at their own experiences in modern American society.</span>
<span>Each year, more than 125,000 students in grades six to eight enter the VFW's Patriot's Pen youth essay contest.</span>
<span>The first place winner from each state competes for national awards totaling $50,000, with each first-place state winner receiving a minimum of $500 at the national level.</span>
<span>The national first-place winner wins $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. in March.</span>
<span>Students can win by writing a 300 to 400 word essay expressing his or her views based upon a patriotic theme chosen by the VFW commander-in-chief. The theme for 2015 was, "What Freedom Means to Me."</span>
<span>In the Chester and Steeleville area, there were 54 essays entered. Judges read and scored the essays based upon three criteria.</span>
<span>The first was "Knowledge of the theme." Authors had to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of theme and had to demonstrate that the area had been extensively researched.</span>
<span>That area was worth 30 points.</span>
<span>The second was "Theme Development." In this area, writers had to answer all relevant facts about the theme, such as the who, what, where, when and why of the subject.</span>
<span>These facts then had to be related to the theme based upon the personal experiences of the author.</span>
<span>This area was worth 35 points.</span>
<span>The final criterion was "Clarity of Points." Essays had to be written in an easy-to-understand format, which left the reader with a clear understanding of the explanation of the theme.</span>
<span>This area was worth 35 points for a total of 100 points.</span>
<span>This year, there were three winners from Chester and two winners from Steeleville. All three winners from Chester attend the St. Mary's Catholic Grade School and the Steeleville winners are from Steeleville Elementary School.</span>
<span>The first place winner was Trenton Jany from St. Mary's. The second place winner was Claire Deterding from St. Mary's.</span>
<span>The third place winner was Shealyn Conway from Steeleville Elementary School. The fourth place winner was Ava Schwartzkopf, also from Steeleville Elementary.</span>
<span>The fifth place winner was Nathan Heffernan, from St. Mary's.</span>
<span>All winners received a certificate and a monetary award from the VFW. VFW Junior Vice Commander Shannon McDonough and Joan Dotson, Auxiliary president - both from VFW Post 3553 - made the presentations of awards on Dec. 1.</span>