Personal Portrait Essays

• Each student will write a Personal Portrait — a feature story about a person in their family, school, neighborhood, etc. The person they choose to interview and write about should be unusual in some way, someone who has had a unique experience or has a unique hobby or job.

• Each entry should include several accurate, interesting quotes from the Personal Portrait subject. Students must plan questions and then interview the person. Students should remember that the best interview questions don’t allow a person to answer just yes or no. The quotes should be the foundation of the story.

• The first paragraph or two of each entry (called the lead) should give the reader a reason to keep reading and an idea of what makes the person being written about so interesting. Students should be sure it is clear who they are writing about and why. Avoid personal opinion and booster statements such as, “I think he’s great,” or, “I want to be a pilot, too.”

• Total length of the Personal Portrait should be approximately 400 words (or less). Entries may be typed or written neatly in dark ink.

• Each entry must include the student’s full name (first and last), phone number, grade, school, and teacher’s name. If not included, the entry will not be accepted.