About the Essay Competition
The aim of our Annual Essay Competition is to encourage Muslim Youths to learn more about Islam. We work to encourage youths to get familiar with Islamic publications and imbibe the culture of research and reading. We also encourage the participation of non-Muslims to help them understand the Islamic way of life as we believe that through proper knowledge and understanding of our religions, we can create a peaceful coexistence between us. The Essay Competition has been taking place every year since 2006. Alhamdulillah, year 2020 will make it 14 years of CMO Annual Youth Essay Competition.
Each year, we select a theme for the Essay Competition. Each category will have a specific topic, however all the topics will be a variation of the general theme that has been adopted in that edition.
Categories
- Category A: For primary school pupils
- Category B: For Junior Secondary School Students
- Category C: For Senior Secondary School Students
- Category D: For Tertiary Institutions
CMO will present the competition winners with prizes at the Annual Youth Essay Competition Prize Presentation and Seminar Day. This special event is an opportunity for CMO to acknowledge the winners. It is a free event open to all (participants and non-participants). The winners will be contacted weeks before the Seminar date. The winner in each category will have the opportunity to present his/her essay at the seminar.
In 2019, CMO introduced a new award in honor of Late Sheikha Bridget Aisha Lemu and her significant contribution to Islamic education. Starting 2019, the Best Participating School will win The Aisha Lemu Trophy.
The best three entries in each category will be shortlisted. The winner of the best entry in each category will be contacted via phone and/or email some weeks before the Seminar date.
The winners or their representative must be in attendance on the day of the Seminar. This is a condition that must be fulfilled.
Please note that you will not be required to pay any money or perform any task that will require you to part with money or properties before you can be confirmed as a CMO essay competition winner.
Also note that you will be required to foot your transportation and any other incidental cost that you will incur in attending the Seminar.
Essay Competition Guidelines
- This essay competition is an International Competition open to all.
- Participation is CMO does not charge you to participate in the competition.
- Every essay must include a contact address, phone number and email address of the writer.
- Each participant must Create an Account by Clicking the REGISTER button
- For SCHOOLS, a single account is enough.
- If you have an account, choose the login option instead and login to your account.
- After Registration, Participants need to login to the account they created using email/username and Password created during Account Registration.
- After login, from the menu Click on SUBMIT ESSAY and you will be redirected to where you will fill the essay submission form.
- There are two options SCHOOL and INDIVIDUAL. For Schools Submitting for their Pupils, choose the SCHOOL option while for INDIVIDUALS submitting for themselves, choose the INDIVIDUAL option and fill the form accordingly.
- There are 4 Categories to choose from (Category A-C only).
- Each participant for Category D must submit a Curriculum Vitae (CV).
- Categories A-C entries with incomplete Bio Data forms or Category D without resume will be disqualified.
- Essays must be submitted in MS Word and PDF format.
- Entries for submission should be saved using this format: First Name, Email Address and Phone Number.
- Essay must be the work of the participant. Plagiarism will result in instant disqualification of participant.
- The three best essays in each category will be eligible for prizes subject to terms and c
- The overall winner of each category will be invited to present his/her essay at the Essay Prize Presentation and Seminar Day.
- The Prize Presentation and Seminar Day is a free event open to all. All you are required to do is pre-register to attend
- Submission of essays and submission portal.
- There will be no extension of deadline date. Late submission will result in disqualification of participant.
- You are advised to try and submit your essay before the deadline date to avoid issues of overcrowded network.
- This competition is not open to Islamic scholars, PHD Holders and Lecturers.
Grading Guidelines
To ensure that all participants are scored fairly, CMO has devised a unique process of scoring each essay eliminating marker bias.
The word counts for the categories are:
- Category A: (300 words maximum)
- Category B: (500 – 700 words)
- Category C: (800 – 1000 words)
- Category D: (1,300 – 1,500 words)
The marking criteria are:
- Adherence to recommended size of essay (10)
- Introduction (5)
- Grammar/Word usage (10)
- Content (20)
- Spelling (15)
- Relevance to the topic (10)
- Reference from the Qur’an & Sunnah (20)
- Neatness (5)
- Conclusion (5)