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Judging Criteria
Please take into consideration the criteria below. The My City Magazine Essay Contest Committee will use this criteria to judge all submissions.
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Message | Clear and compelling central message crafted with strong awareness of audience and purpose. Message is grounded in concrete language and examples. | Clear central message crafted with general awareness of audience and purpose. Message is grounded in some concrete language and examples. | Vague evidence of a central message with inconsistent awareness of audience and purpose. Message, language, or examples may be overly abstract. | Little or no evidence of a central message with minimal awareness of audience and purpose. Few, if any, concrete examples. |
| Organization | All organizational strategies and structures work effectively to convey intended message to the reader. | Most organizational strategies and structures work to convey intended message to the reader. | Some organizational strategies and structures work to convey intended message to the reader. | Few or no organizational strategies and structures work to convey intended message to the reader. |
| Originality | Keeps reader engaged from beginning to end through original and interesting use of ideas, language, plot, personal development, dialogue, imagery, etc. | Engages reader most of the way through the piece through mostly original and interesting use of ideas, language, plot, personal development, dialogue, imagery, etc. | Offers little originality in ideas, language, plot, dialogue, imagery, etc. Readers may lose interest. | Lacks originality in ideas, language, plot, imagery, etc. Reader will not get past first few sentences or lines. |
| Clarity | Although challenging and perhaps not easily understood, work has a clarity that leaves no surface questions (i.e. “What happened in this part?”) in reader’s mind. | Has a clarity that leaves few surface questions (i.e. “What happened in this part?”) in reader’s mind. | Leaves several surface questions (i.e. “What happened in this part?”) in reader’s mind. | Narrative is completely murky because of significant and unintentional gaps or contradictions in logic, plot, character, imagery, voice, point of view, setting, etc. |
| Conventions | Thorough control of sentence formation. Few errors, if any, are present in grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation, but the errors that are present do not interfere with meaning. | Adequate control of sentence formation. Some errors may be present in grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation, but few, if any, of the errors that are present may interfere with meaning. | Limited and/or inconsistent control of sentence formation. Some sentences may be awkward or fragmented. Many errors may be present in grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation, and some of those errors may interfere with meaning. | Minimal control of sentence formation. Many sentences are awkward and fragmented. Many errors may be present in grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation. Many of those errors interfere with meaning. |