Handwriting contest recognizes excellence in penmanship

By SARA GIBONEY
UNK Communications

KEARNEY – Entries are being accepted for the 27th annual Nebraska Handwriting Contest, which promotes legible handwriting as an effective means of communication.

The contest is open to all Nebraska residents in four age categories: 12 and under, ages 13-16, ages 17-49 and age 50 and over. The entry deadline is March 31.

Administered by the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, the contest is endorsed and supported by the Nebraska Department of Education and Nebraska State Education Association.

The following criteria will be used to judge entries: ease of reading, fluent rhythmic movement and technically correct performance of specifications such as the slope, space, size and shape of the letters.

Contestants will be provided text to copy for their entry, which must be written in any of the various styles of cursive handwriting and not printed. For official rules and text to be copied, visit http://coe.unk.edu/contest/

First- and second-place winners in each category will receive $25 and $15 gift certificates to The Sequel Bookshop in Kearney. Winning entries will be judged in April and posted at http://coe.unk.edu/contest.

All entries should be mailed to: Nebraska Handwriting Contest, Attention: Julie Agard, University of Nebraska at Kearney/Department of Teacher Education, Kearney, Ne., 68849.

Requests for hard copies of the rules and texts to be copied can also be mailed to Agard and should include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

The Nebraska Handwriting Contest was created in 1991 by Tom Hutson of Red Cloud in memory of his mother, Eva.

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