June 3, 2013 – Emma Carbo, a seventh-grader from Savannah, Georgia attending St. Peter The Apostle School in Savannah, has won a $100 cash prize for her first-place finish in an essay-writing contest on the theme of leadership skills required to succeed in school. The May competition was open to seventh and eighth grade students in the Coastal Empire area of Georgia and the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

Ten students, representing three counties entered the contest sponsored by the Coastal Empire Leadership Development Association (CELDA). CELDA is a leadership and professional development organization within the National Management Association.

The contest is meant to stimulate the creative minds of middle school students by getting them to think about the future. Each student was challenged to write a 500-word essay based on the theme: “What Leadership Skills Are Required to Successfully Progress Through High School and Graduate from College?”

Carbo’s essay focused on how organization, honesty, courage and creativity are characteristics of good leaders in school and college. Carbo also discusses how leaders need to face their fears, have original ideas, and good problem solving skills. Judging was based on how well the student wrote the essay with supported reasoning. Each student’s essay was scored on content development, sentence structure, logic flow, and word selection. The judges were CELDA and Toastmaster members, and educators within the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry area whose professional backgrounds involve writing, presentations and communications.

The second-place finisher was Taylor Cocke, a Rincon eighth-grader at Ebenezer Middle School. Cocke won a $50 cash prize for her essay about how organization, confidence and integrity are leadership skills needed to succeed in school and life.

Third place went to eighth-grader Avery Waters who attends Richmond Hill Middle School. She will receive a $25 cash prize for her essay which identifies good leadership characteristics as organization, determination, perseverance, honesty, being goal centered and playing an active role in school and the community.

About NMA
The Costal Empire Leadership Development Association (CELDA) is a chapter of the National Management Association (NMA), the world’s largest leadership development association with 15,000 professional people in more than 65 chapters across the USA. The NMA was founded in 1925 and all chapters are regularly involved in activities to improve their communities and enhance their own knowledge, experience and professionalism.

About the Contest:
The purpose of this contest was to stimulate the creative mind of middle school students by getting them to write a 500 word essay about what leadership skills are required to successfully progress through high school and graduate from college?  Students for Chatham, Effingham and Bryan county participated.

Judging was based on how well the student wrote the essay with supported reasoning about their essay – Each student’s essay was scored on content development, sentence structure, logic flow, and word selection to help them develop their communication skills needed for high school and college.  The judges were NMA and Toastmaster members, and educators throughout the coastal empire and low country area whose professional background involves writing skills, presentations, and communications.