The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees

For the 2011 essay contest, the essay topic is: “U.S. Honey: A Taste for Every Preference”
The taste and color on honey varies according to the flowers where the nectar originates. Each different type of plant will yield honey with a different taste.

Beekeepers go about their business, making allowances for a farmer who favors frequent insecticide sprays, or the county road department that mows roadsides, or neighbors who know little or nothing about bees. But, how do all these factors add up? Is your community bee-friendly? That was the question for the 2010 4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest, sponsored by the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees. Essayists were to survey their communities to see what is being done, or could be done to help honey bees. Are there classes to attract new beekeepers – or laws that prohibit beekeeping? Entries were received from 22 states.

Below is the complete list of all the winners of the 2010 4-H Essay Contest. The 2010 topic was Is My Community Honey-Bee Friendly?

The essay topic for 2010 is
Is My Community Honey-Bee Friendly?
Honey bees and other pollinators have been in the news lately. Many beekeepers have experienced colony losses to the yet-unexplained Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. These unexplained losses have caused some people to wonder: What can I do to help? For this essay, you should survey
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The 2009 essay contest, sponsored by the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, drew state-winning essays from 27 states. The assigned topic was “The Dance Language of Honey Bees.” Essayists were to learn about the honey bee’s dance language, how it was discovered, how it works and how it provides colonies the ability to find and exploit floral resources.

Below is the complete list of all the winners of the 2009 4-H Essay Contest.  The 2009 topic was The Dance Language of Honey Bees.

The essay topic for 2009 is The Dance Language of Bees.
Honey bees possess the ability to communicate the distance and direction of resources to their nest-mates. They employ a symbolic dance language in which the position of the sun is symbolically represented by gravity, and a trained observer can watch their dances and predict where
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“The produce department is not the only section which relies on the honey bee,” wrote Jessica Tinker in her first place essay in the 4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest. She was evaluating a supermarket, aisle-by-aisle, looking for evidence of honey bees. “Nearly every aisle in the grocery story is lined with products made available by honey
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The essay topic for 2008 is The Results of Honey Bee Pollination in My Community. Essayists are encouraged to become familiar with honey bees’ pollination activities and, then, survey their communities to see what examples they can find. Some of these will be obvious, i.e., apples on sale at the supermarket. Essayists should not overlook
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“The problem of declining bee populations is very real,” wrote Kelton Shockley in his first place essay in the 4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest. “Honey bees don’t just provide honey, they are vital to the production of many foods. The honey bee is much more than a small insect. The bee is vital in sustaining our
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