Creative essay about New Zealand

Hi,
I'm Pan from Thailand. Currently there's an essay competition on this topic : How much do you know about New Zealand?

The essay will be scored :

40% for the remarkableness
30% for grammar and ;
30% for the writer's point of view

But isn't 'how much do you know about new zealand?' supposed to be written to describe the characteristic of New Zealand? Everybody is going to write about a certain aspect. How can I make mine stand out?

Pan

Try to take an approach that really interests and inspires you. I'd suggest focusing on one specific aspect rather than trying to literally cover everything you can learn about the place. For instance, you might research its use in films, or its marine life, or the history of its founding. Once you have found something that you can work with, brainstorm ways you can tie your knowledge of your specific aspect to broader elements of New Zealand culture

What do the judges usually look for? I mean, what type of essays usually win?

Thanks so much for your reply anyway

Pan ^_^

I have no idea. If you want to know what types of essays usually win, look up the essays of previous years' winner and read them. If I had to guess, though, I'd say they are looking for essays that are very well-written stylistically and that show depth and thoughtfulness in the treatment of the subject matter. Anyone can throw together a bunch of facts about New Zealand picked up from the Internet. What you need to do is to find a way to personalize this information, or to make connections between facts using critical thinking skills, or, even better, to do both at the same time.

Maybe the essay is not supposed to be expository. Maybe you do not need to know about New Zealand at all. You could be writing an essay, for example, about not knowing much about New Zealand; it could be an introspective essay about how little people know about various societies throughout the world.

There are many "types" of essays, creative essay or expository essay are one of them. Does this contest specify which type of essay is expected?