Your school is hosting an Inter School Story Writing Competition. Write a notice informing the students about the event.

MODEL ANSWER

============================================ ST. XAVIER’S HIGH SCHOOL, KOLKATA ============================================

NOTICE

12 March 2025

INTER-SCHOOL STORY WRITING COMPETITION

The school will host an Inter-School Story Writing Competition on Saturday, 5 April 2025, in the Assembly Hall from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Students of Classes IX and X who wish to participate may note the following:

1. Entries must be original and between 500 and 700 words.
2. The theme will be announced on the spot; no prepared material may be carried in.
3. Prizes will be awarded for the first three places, and a certificate of participation to all.
4. Names may be submitted to the undersigned in the Staff Room by 28 March 2025.

Ananya Sen Head Girl ============================================

HOW THE 5 MARKS ARE AWARDED

Format — about 2 marks. A notice MUST carry: the name of the institution, the word NOTICE, the date, a heading or subject, the body, and the writer’s name AND designation. It should be enclosed in a box — draw it, since it costs nothing and examiners look for it. Content — about 2 marks. The body must answer WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHO and HOW: what the event is, its date and time, its venue, who may take part, and how to register. Expression — about 1 mark. Formal, impersonal, and BRIEF — about 50 words of body text.

THE THREE MISTAKES THAT COST MARKS EVERY YEAR Writing in the first person. A notice is never "I am happy to inform you"; it is impersonal throughout. Omitting the DESIGNATION under the name. "Ananya Sen" alone is worth less than "Ananya Sen, Head Girl" — a notice has no authority without an office behind it. Writing a paragraph of prose. A notice is a set of facts, not an essay; numbered points are clearer and faster.

Keep it short. There are no extra marks for length here, and the time belongs to Questions 4 and 5. FORMAT AND MARKS DIVISION: see the Notice and E-mail references in the Writing Formats & Marking (Reference) chapter.

USE THIS AS A MODEL, NOT AS AN ANSWER TO MEMORISE. The question asks for an ORIGINAL composition, and every year examiners identify scripts reproduced from guide books; a memorised answer can be penalised for plagiarism and will in any case read as borrowed. Study this piece for its STRUCTURE — how it opens, how the paragraphs are ordered, where the required tasks are answered, how it ends — and then write your own, about your own school, your own family, your own town. Your own specific detail is worth more marks than anyone else’s polished sentence.