Writing Contest Opportunities for Students

DEADLINE : FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Providing opportunities for students to compete and be recognized for their achievements makes a huge impact on student motivation and confidence. Below are the guidelines for two writing contests for students. The first is the MTA’s Words on Wheel’s poetry contest open to Baltimore City Public School students in middle school. Entries are due DECEMBER 15th so act fast. The winning poems are illustrated by MICA students and hung on buses and lightrails. I remember being impressed by the depth of student work on the glossy posters above my seat when I rode the lightrail as a MICA student. This made attending the award reception with my winning student and taking her picture on the bus beneath her poster even more exciting. I taught middle school art, so I would encourage teachers of all subjects to submit student writing to outlets providing students with a larger audience.

The second contest is open to Maryland students in grades 3-12 and is due February 1st. The contest is presented by Baltimore’s Child and CityLit Project. The winning students receive a scholarship to attend the Maryland Writing Project’s Student Writers’ Workshop in the summer. I have had the pleasure of teaching at this camp and working with very motivated and imaginative students. After teaching summer writing in more general summer camps where some of the students seemed to have allergies to pencils, I was pleasantly shocked when not a single student in my class wanted to take a break because they were so into their writing. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to be published and attend a summer enrichment program on scholarship with other students who share a love and skill for expressing their ideas.

Specific Details for the Contests:

1. Words on Wheels Poetry Contest

Each year, the Words on Wheels poetry contest publish between 10-20 poems of Baltimore City students. The winning poems are printed on placards that are displayed on MTA buses and Lightrail throughout Baltimore City. Students from Maryland Institute College of Art design the artwork for the placards. In the spring, there is a press conference held to celebrate the achievements of these authors and artists.

Any Baltimore City Public School student may submit his/her poetry to the “Words on Wheels” poetry contest. Teachers are encouraged to submit poems from their students to the contest. The following entry form details the guidelines for submitting a poem to this contest. All entries must be submitted electronically by December 15, 2009 to wordsonwheelspoetry@gmail.com.


Words on Wheels Poetry

Submission Form



To submit a poem to the Words on Wheel’s poetry contest, you must complete this form and submit it electronically, along with the poems, to wordsonwheelspoetry@gmail.com.

The following guidelines apply to all those submitting work:

* Fill out this entry form and electronically submit it with the poems
* Each school may submit up to three poems
* The students must be enrolled in a Baltimore City Public School
* Only one entry per student
* There is no word limit; however, shorter poems usually work better on the placards



Here is the information that should accompany all submissions:



School’s name:

Contact Person’s name:

Contact Person’s email:

School’s phone number:



Student’s name:

Student’s home address:

Teacher’s name:

Teacher’s email:

Student’s grade:

Title of the poem:



Student’s name:

Student’s home address:

Teacher’s name:

Teacher’s email:

Student’s grade:

Title of the poem:



Student’s name:

Student’s home address:

Teacher’s name:

Teacher’s email:

Student’s grade:

Title of the poem:



2. Winners receive scholarships to the MWP’s summer Student Writers’ Workshop…

EXTENDED DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Baltimore’s Child and CityLit Project present

2nd Annual Maryland Young Writers’ Contest

Who: Students in Grades 3-12 who attend school or homeschool in Maryland are eligible to participate.

What: Students are invited to submit works of prose (short stories or plays) or poetry. Submissions should not exceed 1,000 words and must be typed and doublespaced.

All submissions must include a cover page with the student’s name, grade, school, and the name of the student’s parent, phone number, and email address.

Students can submit a maximum of two entries, one in the prose category, one in the poetry category. Baltimore’s Child has the right to publish submitted entries without compensation to the writer.

Where: Students must mail their submission to Baltimore’s Child, 2406 Everton Rd., Baltimore, Maryland 21209.

When: EXTENDED DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Baltimore’s Child and CityLit will select independent judges who will name first, second, and third place winners in the following categories.

Prose: Grades 3-5; Poetry: Grades 3-5

Prose: Grades 6-8; Poetry: Grades 6-8

Prose: Grades: 9-12; Poetry: Grades 9-12

Winners will be notified by March 31, 2010 and recognized at a reading at Barnes & Noble in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on Saturday, May 1. Baltimore’s Child will publish the winners’ names and writing in its May or June 2010 issue and CityLit will post winners to www.CityLitProject.org. First place winners will receive scholarships to Towson University’s Maryland Writing Project summer program.

Baltimore's Child and CityLit Project are now accepting entries for the second annual Maryland Young Writers' Contest. Last year, nearly 400 entries were submitted from around the state in both prose and poetry categories across high school, middle school, and elementary school age groups.

Students in grades 3-12 who attend school or are homeschooled in Maryland are eligible.

Submit prose (short stories or plays) or poetry of up to 1,000 words. All entries must be typed and double-spaced, and include the student's name, grade, and school along with the name of the student's parent, phone number, and e-mail address.

Click PDF link below for full details.

Send to MYWC, Baltimore's Child, 2406 Everton Road, Baltimore, MD 21209.

Deadline December 31, 2009.

At right, a MYWC winner Zaynab Gholston, who is homeschooled, reads from her story "Petunias" at CityLit Festival (April 17, 2009).

Click here to download PDF

Source : soetalk and citylitproject

Republish by : NORBERTUS CITRA IRAWAN, SP - www.competitions.co.nr

Related :