The Rhetoric and Composition Office is extending the deadline for full-time U of A students to submit to the Jessie O'Kelly Freshman Essay Award. The new deadline is Wednesday, April 7, 2021.

This essay award recognizes U of A undergraduate students for writing exemplary essays in a composition course. The award's monetary prize is $500.

The criteria for essay submission are as follows:

• Students who submit essays must be currently enrolled as full-time undergraduates at the U of A.

• Essays must have been written for Composition 1 or 2 or Honors Composition 1 or 2.

• Students must have been freshmen or sophomores at the time they took the composition course.

• Students must have taken the composition course in Spring, Summer or Fall of 2020.

• Essays must be at least three pages long, be in Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA) or other recognized academic format, incorporate multiple outside sources and demonstrate skills in originality, organization, argumentation and language.

• Students should include their University ID number with each submission.

Students should submit essays to Katherine Lam-Bellacero, curriculum and teaching specialist for the Rhetoric and Composition Office, via email at rhetcomp@uark.edu by noon on Wednesday, April 7. Essays will be judged by teaching staff in the Rhetoric and Composition Office, who will select winners.

The Rhetoric and Composition Office is proud to recognize outstanding student writers. Please contact Katherine Lam-Bellacero at rhetcomp@uark.edu or 479-575-7521 if you have any questions.