The Western Montana Fish & Game Association is inviting local high school students to participate in their annual essay contest.

Participants are asked to write about the following question: “Why is the right to keep and bear arms relevant today?” Essays should be 500 to 2,000 words and submitted by on January 31, 2016.

Prizes are as follows:

1st Prize = $1,000

2nd= $750

3rd= $500

4th= $250

5th through 14th place= $50 for honorable mention

To enter the contest, attach your essay in an e-mail and send it to essay@wmfg.org with the subject “ESSAY.” Include your full name, school, grade, mailing address and contact phone number at the beginning of the essay. Collaborative essays are allowed.

Students must reside in one of the following counties; Missoula, Ravalli, Granite, Lake, or Mineral County in Montana. Prize awards will be determined no later than February 28, 2016. Any instance of plagiarism will disqualify the participant; citations will be vetted.

By submitting an essay, the participating student gives the Western Montana Fish and Game Association unlimited permission to reprint or publish the essay, including giving credit to the student by name, school and grade (not including student's address or phone).

The Western Montana Fish and Game Association (WMFGA) is a member-owned association founded in 1911. It was created as part of Montana's response to a conservation movement, advocated by President Teddy Rosevelt, which swept America at that time. In 1975, the WMFGA began building and improving the Deer Creek Shooting Center (DCSC), located between East Missoula and Bonner, and now one of the well-developed shooting facilities in the Northwest. The DCSC provides the larger Missoula community with a safe and suitable place to shoot and practice with a variety of different types of firearms, including pistol, rifle, shotgun and archery.

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