PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2 April 2018
For more information, contact Jeffrey Babbitt, 269.668.2534

DEADLINE NEAR FOR COUNTYWIDE TEEN CREATIVE WRITING CHALLENGE

DECATUR, MICHIGAN – – – -The deadline is near for aspiring young writers to enter the 2018 Van Buren County Teen Creative Writing Challenge. Writers in grades 7 – 12 are encouraged to submit one poem, short story or work of visual cover art no later than Saturday, April 14.

A panel of seven judges is set to critique the entries and announce the finalists Tuesday, May 1. Fiction judges are Meghann Meussen, Western Michigan University; author Janie Lynn Panagopoulos, and author and educator Elaine Stephens.

Poetry judges include Melanie Dunbar, poet and editor of Peninsula Poets; Elizabeth Kerlikowske, president of the Kalamazoo area Friends of Poetry; and author and educator, Amy McInnis, Grand Valley State University. Lawton author and illustrator Leslie Helakoski is the Cover Art judge.

Cash prizes await the winners who will be announced May 14. The public is invited to the formal awards ceremony at the Antwerp Township Hall, Mattawan, Saturday, June 16.

The Teen Creative Writing Challenge is sponsored by Hartford Public Library, Lawton Public Library, Paw Paw District Library, South Haven Memorial Library, and Van Buren District Library.

Additional support is provided by the Friends of the Antwerp Sunshine Library, Friends of Paw Paw District Library, and Friends of Van Buren District Library.

Electronic entries must be emailed to vbctcwc@gmail.com by 11:59pm, and hard copies must be submitted at any participating library by closing time, April 14.

For more information contact the nearest library or call Jeffrey Babbitt, 269.668.2534. Complete guidelines are available at www.facebook.com/vbtcwc.

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