How to Host a Essay Writing Contest (8 Steps)

Decide on your topic. Your entrants need to know specifically what topic they should be writing on. Topics are directly related to the organization running the contest. For example, The Ayn Rand Institute sponsors several annual contests for essays about her novels.
Budget your time. Essays take time to write, read, and evaluate; therefore, you have to make sure you leave enough time to cover those three stages. The Anthem essay contest runs yearly with a submission deadline in March and a notification of winners in July. This means those participating can have up to a year to write their essay, but the judges have three months to read and evaluate the entries. Keeping in mind this is a well-publicized contest, you may not need as much time, but it is better to have more time rather than less.
Set the rules. The rules set the expectations for your entrants. First and foremost, you want to ensure you have set minimum and maximum word counts for the submitted essay. This is also where you decide if you will take multiple submissions from entrants, what the manuscripts should look like, who can or cannot participate. Most contests will not allow anyone directly affiliated with the organization running the contest to participate. Also determine if you are going to keep all submissions or return them.
Select the judges and request their participation.
Choose your submission method. Unless you wish to get a lot of mail, it is simpler these days to have essays turned in by email. However, you must keep in mind using a solely electronic method may limit your pool of entrants. Therefore, most essay contests have both an electronic submission method and a physical mailing method available.
Consider prizes. There is no bigger draw for a contest than getting something out of it. If you are not a very large organization, you may wish to offer exposure as an incentive instead of a monetary prize. Some contests make money to offer cash prizes through requiring entry fees. Entry fees can be a good or bad thing in that there will be a number of people who do not enter because of them, though it can bring in capital for those hosting the contest.
Advertise your contest. Consider using message board related to your topic or organization for advertising. If you have a mailing list, utilize it to get the word out for your contest.
Notify your winners on time and make sure you come through with your prizes. One quick way to ruin your reputation as a contest is not to follow through on your promises.
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How to Run an NCAA Tournament Pool (8 Steps)

Determine the maximum number of people you want in the pool. Factors that impact this decision are whether the pool is just for members of your office and if you're hosting the pool using an Internet service--such as Yahoo!, ESPN or CBS Sportsline. Knowing the “cut-off” number before you tell others about the pool gives you the option of declining entry into the tournament pool at your discretion. However, there doesn't have to be a limit at all.
Choose the entry fee. Consult with friends and other potential entrants before setting this fee so people are not dissuaded from entering the pool.
Locate and print blank NCAA tournament brackets for everyone participating in the pool. While those in the pool can locate their own brackets using the Internet or from a newspaper, it doesn't hurt to acquire a few extra brackets just in case. Popular sports websites such as ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, CBS Sportsline and NCAA.com all offer printable brackets after “selection Sunday”--the Sunday before the start of the NCAA tournament, which is always on a Thursday.
Determine a scoring system. Some pool organizers increase the points awarded for each round. For example, award 1 point for every correct pick in the first round, 2 points in the second round, then 3, 5, 10 and 15. Some people do not weight the points, awarding the same number of points in each round. Make sure participants know the rules before they enter.
Decide on a “tiebreaker” in case it becomes necessary. Doing so ensures only one person wins the pool. In most Internet pools, the tiebreaker is the total points of the final score in the NCAA championship game.
Choose how winnings will be distributed to the winner or winners. Some pools pay out just the person who wins the entire contest. Others pay the top two or three winners. An example might be 80 percent of the money to the winner, 15 percent for second place and 5 percent for third. The system you use is largely determined by the number of participants.
Create a cut-off time for the collection of both brackets and money. Most Internet pools have a cut-off time of noon on the first day of the tournament, when the first game tips off. Collecting the money along with the brackets ensures nobody backs out of the pool once the tournament begins.
Tally the total wins/points at the end of each game, set of games or round. The time you choose to check the brackets is up to you, but you'll find most people will want to know who is winning at the end of each day of the tournament.
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