Education

George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest

The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) invites all high school students (9th through 12th grades) interested in the American Revolution to participate in the George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest. The contest is open to all US Citizen and Legal Resident students attending home schools, public, parochial, or private high schools in that same grade range. The National Association of Secondary School Principals has placed this program on the 2017-18 NASSP List of Approved Contests, Programs, and Activities for Students.

To participate, students must submit an original 800- to 1,200-word essay based on an event, person, philosophy or ideal associated with the American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, or the framing of the United States Constitution. Each student’s essay will be judged based upon its historical accuracy, clarity, organization, grammar and spelling, and documentation.

The contest is conducted in three phases: the local chapter, state-level society, and national phases. The contest must be entered through an SAR chapter near the student’s residence. In some cases, the contest may be entered at the state level (if the local society does not have chapters or the chapters are not participating) and a contact-at-large should be used to find out more contest details. The list of contest contacts listed below can provide you with assistance in entering the Knight Essay Contest. Only one entry per student is permitted per contest year.

A complete set of rules, along with the application for both the applicant and the sponsoring SAR members, can be found below. Please be aware that the local application deadline dates may vary, so interested applicants should reach out to their local SAR member listed below for further details.

George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest Rules

George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Application Form

Essay Example

Medal Flyer

Contacts

The current George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest Judge-at-Large is Mr. Christopher Smithson (ctsmithson@gmail.com).

SAR Society	Knight Essay Contest Contact
Alabama SAR	Michael C. Wells mcwells1944@yahoo.com
Alaska SAR Deadline January 31	Thomas J. Rollman tomrollman@yahoo.com​
Arkansas SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com
Arizona SAR	David Rodier canondrodier@cox.net William Baran PHD wbaran@cox.net
California SAR	Patrick Cecil patrick.cecil@ml.com
Colorado SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
Connecticut SAR Deadline February 1	John R. Morgan main@westneckcemetery.com
Dakota SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
Delaware SAR	Brian Cox bcox@salesianum.org
District of Columbia SAR	Doug Brooks lanedbrooks4@gmail.com
Empire State SAR (New York)	James M. Eagan eagan1705@rochester.rr.com
Florida SAR	John M. Stewart 1121 32nd Avenue North Saint Petersburg, FL 33704 1965uva@gmail.com
Georgia SAR	Terry A. Gibbs terrygibbs237@gmail.com
Hawaii SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com
Idaho SAR	Matthew Brechwald Email Link
Illinois SAR	Allan C Campbell MD allanccampbellmd@gmail.com
Indiana SAR	T. Rex Legler II t.rexlegler2@gmail.com
International SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
Iowa SAR	Doug Frazer dlfrazer@yahoo.com
Kansas SAR Deadline December 31	Stuart W. Conrad stucon@swclaw.net
Kentucky SAR	Dale W. Henley dalehenley@windstream.net
Louisiana SAR	George Clemenceau gwclem100@gmail.com
Maine SAR	David L. Manchester davidlmanchester@outlook.com
Maryland SAR Deadline December 31	C. Louis Raborg, Jr. raborg1989@verizon.net
Massachusetts SAR	Joseph Gauthier  pineriver99@gmail.com
Michigan SAR	Norm Palmer middleage55@aol.com
Minnesota SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com
Mississippi SAR	Gerald P. Brent bg0586@comcast.net
Missouri SAR Deadline December 31	Dale A. Schmidt schmidtda17@gmail.com
Montana SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
Nebraska SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
Nevada SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
New Hampshire SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
New Jersey SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
New Mexico SAR	Kevin Carr Wa5j.sar@gmail.com
North Carolina SAR	Stephen A. Morris stephenmorris-sar@nc.rr.com
Ohio SAR	Donald C. McGraw, Jr. 8380 Shawnee Run Road Cincinnati, OH 45243-3359 donald.c.mcgraw@gmail.com
Oklahoma SAR Deadline December 31	Ronald W. Painter ronpainter@msn.com
Oregon SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
Pennsylvania SAR	J. Rennick Steele, Jr. renmaru@comcast.net
Rhode Island SAR	John W Adams JWAdams148@aol.com
South Carolina SAR Deadline December 31	Glenn V. Ohanesian ohanesianlawfirm@cs.com
Tennessee SAR Deadline December 31	George E. Pesely peselyg@apsu.edu
Texas SAR Deadline December 31	John M. Hamlin johnmhamlin@yahoo.com
Utah SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​
Vermont SAR	Zachariah L. Fike purpleheartsreunited@gmail.com
Virginia SAR Deadline January 10	Richard M. Sherman rmsalp@gmail.com
Washington SAR	Dr. Keith Weissinger Kweiss47@comcast.net
West Virginia SAR	Thomas J. Galloway P.O. Box 697 Huntington, WV 25711-0697 tgalloway@marshall.edu
Wisconsin SAR	Thomas P. Curtis II tpcurtis1938@gmail.com
Wyoming SAR	Christopher Smithson ctsmithson@gmail.com​

Previous Winners

The George S. and Stella M. Knight Essay Contest Committee is proud to announce the winner of the national contest. Each year, the SAR receives an average of thirty state-level winners from around the country to compete in the national-level contest. Visitors can find a list of the previous George S. & Stella M. Knight Essay Contest national winners below.

Year	Winning Essayist	Sponsoring SAR Society
2017	Katherine McLeod	Texas SAR
2016	Joseph Nusbaum	Florida SAR
2015	Matthew Penza	Connecticut SAR
2014	Elizabeth Lilly	Virginia SAR
2013	Bryan Habashi	Virginia SAR
2012	Katie Lavender	Virginia SAR
2011	Amanda Schanz	Virginia SAR
2010	Cody E. Nager	Empire State SAR
2009	Hayley Schoeppler	Wisconsin SAR
2008	Jenna Barker	South Carolina SAR
2007	Derek McMahan	Kentucky SAR
2006	Kristin Personius	Texas SAR
2005	H. Curtis Kuntz	Pennsylvania SAR
2004	Daniel E. Sigler	Empire State SAR
2003	Daniel E. Sigler	Georgia SAR
2002	Nathan W. Skelly	Missouri SAR
2001	Stephanie Condon	California SAR
2000	Jenna Dondero	Texas SAR
1999	Courtney Powell	Virginia SAR
1998	Kimberly Braun	Delaware SAR
1997	John Rackson	Maryland SAR
1996	Justin Jaeck	Wisconsin SAR
1995	Catherine Clayton	Texas SAR