Janeal Shannon, National Chairman American History, advised the following:

Just wanted to alert you to the fact that the original handout to schools and chapters had an error of omitting the “the” before the word American in the title of the essay “Forgotten Patriots Who Supported the American  Struggle for Independence.” The form has now been updated.
 
Please do not penalize in any way children who omit  “the” from the title. It was an oversight and should not affect the judges in any way.

Barbara Volker and Debbie Amaro
Chairman and Vice Chairman, American History
VolkerDAR@gmail.com or daamaro@ca.rr.com