4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest

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2009 4-H BEEKEEPING ESSAY CONTEST
ANNOUNCEMENT AND RULES
Sponsored by The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc.

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National Awards:
First place: $750.00
Second place: $500.00
Third place: $250.00

State Award:
Each state winner receives an appropriate book about honey bees, beekeeping or honey.

Topic:
For the 2009 essay contest, the essay topic is:

“The Dance Language of Bees”

Honey bees possess the ability to communicate the distance and direction of resources to their nest-mates. They employ a symbolic dance language in which the position of the sun is symbolically represented by gravity, and a trained observer can watch their dances and predict where they are foraging. The use of symbolic language by an insect has made them one of the most studied animals.

This year's essay contest invites participants to learn about the honey bee's dance language, how it was discovered, how it works and how it provides colonies the ability to find and exploit floral resources.

Sources:
Karl Von Frisch was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his work with insect communication. His classic text is The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees, (1967) Harvard University Press. There are dissenters to Von Frisch's findings. See "Anatomy of a Controversy: The Question of a 'Language' Among Bees," (1990) Columbia University Press. The results of scout bees leading nest-mates back to new food source can be demonstrated easily by a beekeeper.

The scope of the research is an essential judging criterion, accounting for 40% of your score. The number of resources consulted, the authority of the sources, and the variety of the sources are all evaluated.

Personal interviews with beekeepers and others familiar with bees and beekeeping activities are valued sources of information and should be documented. Sources which are not cited in the endnotes should be listed in a "Resources" or "Bibliography" list.

Note that "honey bee" is properly spelled as two words, even though many otherwise authoritative references spell it as one word.

Rules:
1. Contest is open to active 4-H club members only. 4-H'ers who have previously placed first, second, or third at the national level are not eligible; other state winners are eligible to re-enter.

2. Requirements (failure to meet any one disqualifies):

*	Preparation for national judging: Typewritten or computer generated, double-spaced, 12-pt. Times or similar type style, on one side of white paper following standard manuscript format.
*	Write on the designated subject only.
*	All factual statements must be referenced with bibliographical-style endnotes.
*	A brief biographical sketch of the essayist, including date of birth, gender, complete mailing address, and telephone number must accompany the essay.
*	Length - the essay proper: 750 to 1,000 words.
*	The word count does not include the endnotes, the bibliography or references, not the essayist's biographical sketch - which should be on a separate page.

3. Essays will be judged on (a) scope of research - 40%, (b) accuracy - 30%, (c) creativity - 10%, (d) conciseness - 10%, and (e) logical development of the topic - 10%.

4. Essayists should not forward essays directly to the American Beekeeping Federation office. Each state 4-H office is responsible for selecting the state's winner and should set its deadline so state judging can be completed in time for the winning essay to be mailed to the ABF office before March 1, 2008. Deadline for Tennessee entries to be received in the state 4-H office is February 1, 2009.

5. Each state may submit only one entry.

6. Final judging and selection of the national winner will be made at the ABF's essay committee, whose decision will be final.

7. The national winner will be announced by May 1, 2009.

8. All national entries become the property of the Foundation and may be published or used as it sees fit. No essay will be returned.