Van Buren District Library
Teen Creative Writing Challenge 2016
Entries accepted February 22, 2016 through April 23, 2016

Prizes for each category in Grades 7-8, Grades 9-10 and Grades 11-12
Fiction: 1st Place, $50; 2nd Place, $25; 3rd Place, $10
Poetry: 1st Place, $50; 2nd Place, $25; 3rd Place, $10

Winners will be published in a professionally printed booklet. Each winner will receive a copy of the booklet, and additional copies will be available to the public in Van Buren District Library’s circulating collection!

Finalists announced May 9.
Winners announced later May 31.

Awards Event featuring free food and drink, the presentation of the prizes, a word from the judges and readings from the winners is scheduled for Saturday, June 18, 1:30pm to 3:30pm (location TBA).

Guidelines

• Participants may only submit one short story or up to three poems per contest.
• Writers must be in grades 7-12.
• Only works written by a single writer are allowed.
• Previously published works will not be accepted.
• Fiction must be from 1,200 to 3,000 words, and poetry entries must be no longer than 225 lines combined.
• Please use only Times New Roman, Arial or a similar font. Any “fancy fonts” will be altered before being sent on to the judges, and colored text will be changed to black.
• All entries should include a cover page with the writer’s name, school, grade, age, address and phone. Please include your email address if you would like to receive a confirmation that your work has been accepted. All information except for grade will be removed from judges’ copies.
• To enter, email your story or poetry to jbabbitt@vbdl.org. You may also hand in hard copy of your work to your local VBDL branch (Antwerp Sunshine [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Mattawan], Bangor, Bloomingdale, Covert, Webster [Decatur], Gobles or Lawrence libraries only, please. Otherwise, it will probably not get where it needs to go).
• Hard copy entries must be in the hands of VBDL library staff by closing time April 23. Emailed entries must have been sent to jbabbitt@vbdl.org by midnight April 23.
• Be sensitive to your readers, whom you should imagine to be a general, family audience from your community.

The judges are all in place!

Our Fiction Judges include VBDL’s Assistant Director Debby Stassek and Gobles Branch Librarian Barb Insidioso, and Dr. Meghann Meeusen, “faculty specialist in children’s and adolescent literature at Western Michigan University”!

Poetry Judges for the Teen Creative Writing Challenge include VBDL’s Lawrence Branch Librarian Denise Campagna and renowned poets Susan Blackwell Ramsey and Diane Seuss, Writer-in-Residence at Kalamazoo College.

For more information, please email Jeffrey at jbabbitt@vbdl.org or call him at the Antwerp Sunshine Branch Library at (269) 668-2534.