New Voices Young Writers Competition Opens Today

How to Enter

The entry period for the 2015 New Voices Young Writers Competition will open on November 1, 2014. We've moved the entry period to later in the fall.
First, please read the following Competition Guidelines carefully.
Yeah, there's a test.
You can download a copy of these guidelines.

Before you start to fill out the entry form, you'll need some information:

Your contact information: Your street address, zip code/postal code, so we can ship prizes if you win. This should be a street address, rather than a post office box, unless you only receive packages through the post office.

School contact information: The full name (first and last) of a teacher, librarian, or the principal of your school, and the email address for this person too.

School Address: So we can ship a copy of the Anthology if you win.

School Telephone number: For contact as a last resort.
Eligibility

This contest is open to students worldwide, attending public, private, or home schools, between the ages of 11 and 18. The competition is divided into two divisions. The Junior Division is for entrants 11 to 14 years of age, while the Senior Division is for entrants 15 to 18 years of age.
Permission Form

All entrants are required to provide proof of parental/guardian approval of their entry. Gotta have this, guys. Legal stuff and all.

Click here to download the permission form. Print it. Read it! There's info on the rights you are handing over. Important practice for when you get your first contract.
This form must be signed by the entrant and the entrant's parent or guardian.
Save the form using the following format for the filename: Division-Entrant's name.pdf.
For the division, use S for Senior, and J for Junior.
The entrant's name should match what's on the entry form.
Naming your file correctly will enable the competition drones to match your permission form to your entry.

Example: Susie Student will enter the Senior division. After she and her parent or guardian sign the permission form, the form should be scanned and saved as a jpg file, named S-SusieStudent.jpg.

Upload the file as directed on the entry form.
Bio

On the entry form you'll provide a brief biography and your thoughts on eBooks and ePublishing. Give this a little thought before you start.

What would you like to tell people about yourself? Don't be too specific about your school or where you live, but tell us what jazzes you: books, sports, music, whatever. You can include your thoughts on how eBooks have changed your reading experience. Have eBooks and ePublishing impacted your life? If you're a winner, this information will be included in the New Voices Anthology.
Entries

Entries will be accepted from November 1 through December 20.


An entry form must be completed for each entry.

Your entry can be something you've written for a school assignment or especially for the competition. Only one prize packagewill be awarded to each winning entry. In case of multiple authors, the entrant whose name and contact information appears on the entry form will receive the prize package.

Entries have to be written in English. Any flavor of English is okay.

Entries must be in a format which is easy to read and easy to open. When you become a professional writer, you'll have to follow publishers' format requirements. Here are ours:
12-point Times New Roman font;
black letters on white background;
1 inch margins;
left-justified;
no graphics, please. No comic strips, illustrations, etc.;
saved as a Word document (doc) or Rich Text Format (RTF);
filename in the format: [Division]-[category]-title-name.doc (or rtf). For Division, use S for Senior and J for Junior; for category use S for Story; P for Poetry; E for Essay:

Example: Angus Author is entering his short story, My Dog Ozzy, in the Junior Division. He is saving it as an RTF file. His document will be named: J-S-MyDogOzzy-AngusAuthor.rtf.

Fancy fonts, formatting and colors are no match for the power of your words. Let your words do the talkin'.

The table below outlines the divisions and the categories. Please note the word length restrictions.


Junior Division (Ages 11 - 14)

Senior Division (Ages 15 - 18)


Story (Fiction)
Maximum length: 750 words
All genres may be entered.

Story (Fiction)
Maximum length: 1000 words
All genres may be entered.


Poetry
Maximum length: 20 lines
All themes and forms may be entered.

Poetry
Maximum length: 30 lines
All themes and forms may be entered.


Essay (nonfiction)
Maximum length: 750 words
All themes and forms may be entered.

Essay (nonfiction)
Maximum length: 1000 words
All themes and forms may be entered.


Category minimums: If there aren't enough entries in a category, we may decide to cancel the category. Hasn't happened yet, but we thought we'd let you know.


Entry Limit: You may enter any or all categories in your age division, but you may only enter once per category.

Entry Fee: None. No kidding. It's free.

Deadline: All entries must be received by midnight on December 20. We're not joking, guys. That's the deadline.

Judging: Judges may include teachers, librarians, published authors, publishers, and editors. Each entrant will receive feedback from our judges. Finalists will move to a secondary judging panel to determine winners in each division and category. A Grand Prize Winner will be selected from the Junior Division and the Senior Division.


Please note: Profane, sexually explicit, plagiarized, or libelous content will be rejected. So keep it clean, don't steal it, and don't tell ugly lies about somebody else. Got it?

Beware Young Writers! The competition drones will disqualify you if you break these rules.

Write it in English, keep it clean, and stick to the word length limits. Upload your entry and your permission form on the entry form. Easy, huh?

Still with us? Oh, there's a test. We call it, entry form. To continue...
Wait!
Did you download your permission form?

Print it...read it...sign it...get your parent or guardian to read it and sign it...scan it...save it...yada, yada, yada.

All done? Okay...

Click here to go to the entry form. (Entries aren't being accepted right now. Come back on November 1.)

If you have any questions or problems, please contact the competition drones at competitions@newvoicesyoungwriters.com