The Girls Project
This essay contest will be open to girls who are in the 11th or 12th grades, between the ages of 16 & 18, and residents of Forsyth County. Each candidate will select a topic from three prompts and submit her essay in January, 2011. There will be three winners selected, with awards presented at a community luncheon on Saturday, April 30th, 2011.
Even if you’re not a member of AAUW Winston-Salem, if you can help publicize this contest or wish to be a sponsor, the branch would appreciate the help and would be glad to talk to you more about the work of AAUW. AAUW national members and members of the Tar Heel Branch (the NC branch without borders) are particularly invited to learn more about how to help with this project.
Publicity
The key to a successful event is publicity and sponsorship. We will develop a flyer to promote the contest. In most cases, the flyer will be emailed to targeted groups, including high school counselors, youth ministers of local churches, youth-serving organizations, including the YWCA, Girl Scouts, Crosby Scholars, city recreation centers, local magazines (in hopes of having them write an article), and city libraries.
What You Can Do
We need members to contact high school guidance counselors by phone to talk with them about how to reach their audience. We also need members to forward the flyer to their contacts in the community, especially the youth ministers at their church, recreation centers in their area, and other community groups they are affiliated with. Vanessa will provide a script to use. Please volunteer to help with publicity in this way!
Sponsors
We need sponsors for the project. Please be thinking of who you know that might be approached for help. We anticipate the cost of the project to be about $1650. Although our treasury can cover this cost, we will not be able to continue the project in future years if our branch covers all costs without any partners. We have sponsorship levels up to $1000 with a variety of “perks” for the sponsors.
What You Can Do
We need some leads from each member about a potential sponsor. Please send us 2-4 businesses with a contact name, so we can begin to secure sponsorship early. It will be a huge help if we get a few sponsors – others will want to get on board even faster.
Communication
We will have a gmail account for girls to submit their essay, for sponsors to have a contact, etc. Help is also needed to monitor that account.
Request and Thanks!
We invite your participation in this branch project for 2010-2011, and we are depending on it!
We welcome your input as we move forward to make this essay contest a reality. If you have not joined in the planning process, please know you are welcomed to all committees! Many thanks to those who have stepped up already, and a warm welcome to those who can help now.
Those who aren’t (yet!) members of the branch and want to get involved can find our contact information on the branch contact page or watch for more details on the AAUW Winston-Salem Facebook Page.