Step-by-step guidelines to help educators and community groups implement a National Women's History Week essay contest, in which elementary and secondary students write about women, are provided. Students are encouraged to write about a woman they personally know so that they can conduct an oral history interview. An alternate approach would be to have students focus on women from the past--women they have learned about through classroom lessons. The guidelines contain information about sponsorship and co-sponsorship by educators and business and community groups, costs, essay content, contest rules, the judging process, publicity, the awards event, and prizes. The appendices contain samples of helpful information used in an essay contest sponsored in Sonoma County, California. Included are a letter to school principals, a packet of materials for project contact persons, materials for potential judges, a packet for participating judges, a press release announcing competition, a letter notifying winners, a press release announcing winners, the printed program for the awards event, a certificate of participation, a letter thanking judging panelists, and logos for National Women's History Week. (RM)