Category — Writing Contest

Start Date      February 1, 2009
End Date      May 1, 2009
Eligibility      Students in grades 6-12, and homeschoolers, in all countries

PERSONAL NARRATIVES are welcome. (Nonfiction only: no poetry, no fiction.) First place essay in each division — middle and high school — receives $100.00 and a four volume set of Merlyn’s Pen: Fiction, Essays, and Poems by America’s Teens.  The winning school also wins a prize, to be announced.

WRITING FROM MEMORY empowers us. Because we live with our memories, the rich and detailed information they harbor is available to us as writers. We get to work with material that is close-at-hand and relevant. We care about our memories: that’s why we remember them! When we choose a specific memory and write about it, we can unlock its secrets: memories teach us, reveal truths about who we are. That information is empowering.

Editors love to advise, “write what you know” because when writers do that, they write as experts, calling forth the concrete details, inside information, and wisdom that only expertise brings. So your writing gets more exciting, more attention. It gets better. That’s empowering.

THE CHALLENGE: Choose a memory — funny, hilarious, confusing, sad, exciting, quiet, simple, or complex. It may be an event you experienced, but it may also be a vaguely remembered feeling, a smell, a sound or sensation, a small echo of something that has no borders. But it’s there in recollection. Write about it over several drafts, with time for thinking in between drafts. Your drafts should be imperfect, messy, experimental. Throw everything in. Describe the memory in detail, explore its many parts. Write much more material than your final draft will need. Ask yourself: of all the things I have experienced and forgotten, why does this memory remain? What makes this memory so me?

SHAPE YOUR ESSAY INTO A NARRATIVE: After all the recollection and drafting, when your memory begins to tell you something important, try to shape it into a narrative, a story with some tension or conflict that you finally resolve or clarify.  Imagine an audience listening to your narrative. Imagine keeping them in suspense. Imagine them knowing you better when your essay is done. Share your drafts with other writers. Get feedback; write more drafts. SEND ONLY YOUR FINAL DRAFT TO MERLYN’S PEN. That is your contest entry.

WORD LIMIT: No more than 1500 words.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY: Entering the contest is free. Go to Submit Your Writing, on the home page at www.merlynspen.org. Only online entries are welcome. Every writer receives a response.

TRACK YOUR SUBMISSION: You’ll receive online acknowledgment that Merlyn’s Pen has your entry. You’ll get a “tracking number,” too, to follow the progress of your submission as it moves among Merlyn’s Pen editors.

AWARD NOTIFICATION: Contest winners and honorable mentions will be publicized at www.merlynspen.org beginning June 15, 2009. Winners will be announced in each division: middle school (6-8) and high school (9-12). Merlyn’s Pen will place entries from home-schooled writers in the division appropriate to the writer’s age.

TIPS FOR SUCCESS: Spend more time in the exploration and drafting process than on the final draft. Successful memoir writing requires time –to remember, to move memories around, to question their meaning, to connect them, and to solve narrative challenges. If you allow yourself time for immersion in the drafting process, the final draft — your contest entry — will flow more easily and quickly. Another tip? Have fun!

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CONTEST: Please email the editor at merlyn@melynspen.org. Or call 1-800-247-2027.  Good luck!

Awards
FIRST PRIZE: $100.00 and a four volume set of Merlyn’s Pen: Fiction, Essays, and Poems by America’s Teens. A First Prize will be awarded to one entry in each division: middle school and high school. A prize to the school attended by the First Place writer will be announced.

SECOND PRIZE: $25.00 and a copy of the Merlyn’s Pen hardback License to Write: New Writing from Today’s Authors Under 20. A Second Prize will be awarded to one entry in each division: middle school and high school.

Illustrations from the New Library of Young Adult Writing. Copyright Merlyn’s Pen, Inc. All rights reserved. 1-800-247-2027.

More information click here

Annual Writing Competition

For 78 years, the Annual Writer’s Digest Competition has rewarded writers just like you for their finest work. We continue the tradition by giving away more than $30,000 in cash and prizes!

Win a trip to New York City !

GRAND PRIZE: $3,000 cash and a trip to New York City to meet with editors or agents.Writer’s Digest will fly you and a guest to The Big Apple, where you’ll spend three days and two nights in the publishing capital of the world. While you’re there, a Writer’s Digest editor will escort you to meet and share your work with four editors or agents! Plus, you’ll receive a free Diamond Publishing Package from Outskirts Press.

Entry Deadline:  May 15, 2009.

Compete and Win in 10 Categories!

* Inspirational Writing (Spiritual/Religious)
* Memoirs/Personal Essay
* Magazine Feature Article
* Genre Short Story (Mystery, Romance, etc.)
* Mainstream/Literary Short Story
* Rhyming Poetry
* Non-rhyming Poetry
* Stage Play
* Television/Movie Script
* Children’s/Young Adult Fiction

Entry Fee: Poems are $15 for the first entry; $10 for each additional poem submitted in the same online session. All other entries are $20 for the first manuscript; $15 for each additional manuscript submitted in the same online session.

Add $5 per manuscript to all entries postmarked after May 15, 2009. Entries postmarked after June 01, 2009, will not be accepted.

PRIZES

Grand Prize: $3,000 cash and a trip to New York City to meet with editors and agents.

You’ll spend three days and two nights in NYC and a Writer’s Digest editor will escort you to meet with four editors or agents of your choice! (Includes airfare within the U.S., meals, transportation and related expenses.)

First Place: The First Place Winner in each category receives $1,000 cash, a manuscript critique and marketing advice from a Writer’s Digest editor or advisory board member, and $100 worth of Writer’s Digest Books.

Second Place: The Second Place Winner in each category receives $500 cash, plus $100 worth of Writer’s Digest Books.

Third Place: The Third Place Winner in each category receives $250 cash, plus $100 worth of Writer’s Digest Books.

Fourth Place: The Fourth Place Winner in each category receives $100 cash.

Fifth Place: The Fifth-Place Winner in each category receives $50 cash.

Sixth through Tenth Place: The Sixth- through Tenth-Place winners in each category receive $25 cash.

First through Tenth Place Winners also receive a copy of the 2010 Writer’s Market Deluxe Edition and a one-year subscription (new or renewal) to Writer’s Digest Magazine.

11th through 100th Place: All other winners receive distinctive certificates honoring their accomplishment.

For entrants paying with a credit card, we will accept manuscripts submitted online. Manuscripts in the script categories must be submitted via regular mail.

Entry Deadline: May 15, 2009

Late Entry Deadline: June 01, 2009 (Add $5 per manuscript or poem to Entry Fee(s))

More information click here

Can you produce a masterwork of fiction in three short days? The 3-Day Novel Contest is your chance to find out. The contest has run every Labour Day Weekend since 1977, and attracts writers from all over the world! It has been responsible for dozens of published novels, thousands of first drafts, countless good ideas and even a reality TV series. It’s a thrill, a grind, and an awesome creative experience. How many crazed plotlines, coffee-stained pages, pangs of doubt and moments of genius will next year’s contest bring forth? And what will you think up under pressure?

Grand Prize: Publication
2nd Prize: $500

The next contest will take place September 5-7, 2009. Registration will open in spring 2009.

More information click here