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<p>haha. but yeah, that makes sense considering the amount of people submitting manuscripts for the short story and poetry categories is unreal. </p>
<p>hopefully it is less competitive so there’s a higher chance of getting a national award. : )</p>
<p>To answer nearly all questions:</p>
<p>National awards reflect approximately the top 1% of submissions nationwide. In order to be considered, you must have received a gold key regionally. They are announced in early April. You will first find out via mail. It is very difficult to get a national award. Do not expect one.</p>
<p>If you did not receive an e-mail for the American Tree thing, you did not get a gold key. If you did, then you did get a gold key. </p>
<p>For all you ego-avengers, your gold key means you got about top 10% out of your region. This means different things for different categories and different locales. Generally, however, it means your writing is pretty good, but not much more.</p>
<p>saveD, what about region at large?</p>
<p>thanks so much for the detailed explanation btw!</p>
<p>Do they award bronze or silver keys for RAL? What do those mean?</p>
<p>luckymeee - No, they don’t award bronze or silver - just gold.</p>
<p>And also, quinone22- I’m a student journalist as well, but I never understood what they wanted for journalism. Are you just supposed to send a story that you’ve written for the newspaper? Is there a certain category (editorial, news, feature,etc.) that you’re supposed to submit? I was really confused on that, since they weren’t very specific.</p>
<p>Anyway, I got the tree email but I haven’t received the actual gold key certificate yet. I think I probably got it in Personal Memoir - I also submitted journalism, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t get it in that b/c I just sort of submitted a story at random - I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what they were looking for, though (I submitted a book review, lol). I think they wanted news or editorial or something more serious. Mine was too light-hearted I think.</p>
<p>do they send out the american tree email all at once? do some people get the email later than others?</p>
<p>i know some of you might be worried about not getting the tree email. i didnt get the email but still got a gold key - the tree email only goes to gold key winners who are JUNIORS.</p>
<p>why only 11th graders?</p>
<p>i don’t know because i didn’t get the email. sorry. i just looked at some of the posts before. apparently, that’s what the email said.</p>
<p>I have no idea. Ask the Scholastic people. :)</p>
<p>haha, yeah I think Im going to email them why. :]</p>
<p>Wait, I never even got the email myself and Im asking them! LOL. Can someone tell me what the email generally says? Does it tell you that youve won or received a certain award or something?</p>
<p>The American National Tree Award is an annual scholarship/publication opportunity **for 11th grade Gold Key recipients in The Scholastic Writing Awards. **The winner of the American National Tree Award will be recognized at the National Constitution Center in a ribbon cutting ceremony in September and will receive a $1000 scholarship.</p>
<p>The American National Tree is an exhibit at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia profiling the lives of Americans whose actions helped write the constitutional story. Each year, a Gold Key recipient in The Scholastic Writing Awards is selected to write a biographical profile of a constitutionally important person that will be added to the American National Tree. This year’s theme is Freedom of Expression.</p>
<p>To apply for the American National Tree Award, please submit a 250-500 word biographic description of one of the following constitutionally important Americans by Monday, March 30, 2009.</p>
<p>(…and then there’s a list of six people to choose from; so on and so on)</p>
<p>Region-at-Large represents competitors from all parts of the country without a regional sponsor. This does not just mean the backwoods–all areas of New York, save the city, and even Los Angeles are a part of region at large. Because of the large number of competitors in this category, it is most closely normalized to the 10% standard for gold keys. </p>
<p>Because of the large number of manuscripts, only those who have won an award receive notification (this applies to all stages of the competition). By this time, the teachers of all RAL winners should have been notified. If you didn’t receive anything, it’s quite alright; dust yourself off and do what makes you happy.</p>
<p>NOTE: I was mistaken about the American Tree email. This is only for juniors.</p>
<p>OH, okay. </p>
<p>Youve eliminated my confusion, quinone22 and SaveD! Thanks for explaining everything. </p>
<p>Well, I entered artwork, not writing, and this Tree Award seems to only be for writers…</p>
<p>“By this time, the teachers of all RAL winners should have been notified. If you didn’t receive anything, it’s quite alright; dust yourself off and do what makes you happy.”</p>
<p>What about students who entered works in non-RAL regions?</p>
<p>I received the Tree Awards email, but my teacher hasn’t said anything… what is this?</p>
<p>SaveD</p>
<p>Do you know for a fact all teachers or sponsers have been notified or is this an assumption. It doesn’t seem as though enough kids have heard and it is a bit early. Last year, my son’s teacher found out the same day he rec’d it in the mail. IIt doesn’t seem as though any senior portfolio’s from RAL have been notified. </p>
<p>I guess I just question your authority to make the statement-</p>
<p>“By this time, the teachers of all RAL winners should have been notified.”</p>
<p>2by2, you make a good point.</p>
<p>has ANYONE out there been notified yet about a senior portfolio???</p>
<p>^The Scholastic website says winners will be notified two to three months after the deadlines. How can we be sure that all notifications have been sent out? Theres practically still a month that they have to contact more people that won. Do you guys work for Scholastic?</p>