Entering the contest
Laws of Life Essay Contest is for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students who have a law of life they are passionate about, or who want to use writing their essay as a way to discover what they feel is important to them.
Who is eligible?
Essays written by 6th, 7th and 8th grade students who reside in the eligible Ohio counties* who have been selected by teachers or contest coordinators as the best of the group should be submitted to the contest. Students cannot submit essays individually, they must work through a class, school or other youth group.
*Athens, Champaign, Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Hocking, Knox, Licking, Logan, Madison, Marion, Meigs, Morrow, Muskingum, Perry, Pickaway, Ross, Union, and Vinton.
How to enter
Each teacher (school, or youth group) selects the best essays written by their students and submits them to the contest. The number of entries is determined by the number of essays written in each class, school or youth group. (see page 7 of the Laws of Life Teachers Guide)
*See page 13 of the Teacher's Guide for information on submitting an additional entry for cover design
What is the essay topic?
While there is no required essay prompt, essays should be about a law of life of the student’s choosing. Some students write about how they learned the law, how they live by it or why it is important to them. Some students use a quote or “maxim” and explain it and why it is important to them. Students can also use one of the the UncommonSense® themes.
Special theme 2025
The special theme for 2025 is Compasssion. We have added a special prize category for students who choose to write about compassion and allow schools to submit one additional entry on this topic.
We ask students to reflect on what compassion means to them, why it is an important Law of Life, how they learned the trait, and how they have changed their behavior to live up to that law.
The best essay on this topic will be awarded $150. Students are not required to write about this topic, but if students choose to write about compassion, the best essay on that topic may be submitted as an additional entry for that school.
Is there a maximum length?
All essays (including the special theme) should be no more than 3 typed, double spaced pages. Teachers are strongly encouraged to submit their entries online (and all finalists are required to submit an electronic version), so teachers/contest coordinators are encouraged to ask for electronic files from their students.
Submitting entries
Please note - you don’t have to complete your submission at one time, information can be saved and edited by clicking the “Save” button at the bottom right of the form.
Designate one person (teacher or other school personnel) to act as the “contest coordinator”.
All communication will be with the contest coordinator, so please include a working email address. If only one teacher is participating, that person is the “contest coordinator”.
The contest coordinator should go to the Contest Coordinator Registration Form to begin the entry process. The form includes:
your contact information
survey questions about your contest experience
Once this information has been entered, hit submit and you will receive an email with an “Add a School” entry form link. This link creates a new school entry form each time you click it, so it can be used more than once if you are coordinating multiple schools.
Click on the “Add a School” link and it will take you to the entry form. On the first page, you will be asked for:
general information about the school you will be representing (use the “Add a School” link for each school)
the total number of essays written (not just those entered)
teachers participating in the contest
On the second page, the contest coordinator will complete an entry for each student essay. For multiple essays, simply click on the “Add Essays” button.
For each student the contest coordinator will complete student information and upload the essay (word or .txt files only – no PDFs). To avoid confusion, please use the student’s first initial and last name as the file name (ex ASmith).
If your school has a Cover Design entry, answer “Yes” to the Cover Design question. This will reveal the section to fill out student information and upload the cover art in jpeg format.
Once all student essays (and cover design) are uploaded, the contest coordinator will hit “Submit”
Since a parent and student signature are required, when the “Submit” button has been clicked – it will automatically send an email for signatures to each parent email address.
Please advise parents to check their spam folder if they did not receive the request for a signature.
After the parent submits the form, the Contest Coordinator will receive notification
Final submissions are due by Midnight March 3
Mailing instructions
If you are unable to complete the submission process electronically, hard copy entries will be accepted by mail. Please complete an Entry Form for each essay entry and paperclip to 2 copies of the essay and mail along with a completed Contest Coordinator Registration Form to:
Better Business Bureau serving Central Ohio
C/o Cassy Patterson
1169 Dublin Rd
Columbus, Ohio 43215
All entries must be postmarked by March 3, 2025.