eNewsletter
Check out these great writing websites:
Teen Voices: The Write Stuff – A compilation of interviews and advice from famous Teen Authors. Compiled by Kate Hawthorne.
Figment – “Figment is a community where you can share your writing, connect with other readers, and discover new stories and authors. Whatever you’re into, from sonnets to mysteries, from sci-fi stories to cell phone novels, you can find it all here.”
Teen Ink – “Welcome to Teen Ink, a national teen magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing, art, photos, and forums. Teen Ink magazine offers some of the most thoughtful and creative work generated by teens and has the largest distribution of any publication of its kind.”
WattPad – “Wattpad is a revolutionary way for readers to discover and participate in the creation of new stories. From the beginning, Wattpad has been an open platform allowing readers and writers to exchange stories freely online and through mobile devices.”
Pacemaker – “Pacemaker is a free web-based tool that allows you to create custom writing schedules! With a target word count and the dates you’d like to write, Pacemaker will calculate how many words you should write each day in order to finish on-time.”
SmithTeens – “SMITHTeens is a home for storytelling of all forms and kinds, with a focus on personal narrative. We believe everyone has a story, and everyone should have a place to tell it. SMITHTeens is a space for our non-adult contributors, aged 13-19.”
Enter your writing into these contests:
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Deadline: The entries are first accepted generally around September. The deadline ranges from December 15 through January 15 each year
Categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
Fee: Free
Prize: Students who win at the regional level are celebrated at local ceremonies and have their work showcased in exhibitions, publications and at public readings. National Medalists are celebrated at a prestigious Carnegie Hall ceremony and have their work showcased in reputable galleries in New York City.
Details: To register, follow the directions here: https://www.artandwriting.org/awards/how-to-enter/
Kids Are Authors Contest
Deadline: March 1, every year
Categories: Fiction, Nonfiction
Fee: Free
Prize: Winning books published by Scholastic & distributed all over the country.
Details: Kids Are Authors is an annual competition open to Grades K–8 and is designed to encourage students to use their reading, writing, and artistic skills to create their own books. Under the guidance of a project coordinator, children work in teams of three or more students to write and illustrate their own book.
Figment Contests
Deadline: Ongoing
Categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
Fee: Free
Prize: Varies
Details: Figment is a community where you can share your writing, connect with other readers, and discover new stories and authors.
Teen Ink Contests
Deadline: Ongoing
Categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
Fee: Free
Prize: Your work published in Teen Ink, copies of the magazine, and Teen Ink merchandise.
Details: Teen Ink is a national teen magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing and art. They have no staff writers or artists; they depend completely on submissions from teenagers nationwide for their content.
Your Story – A Writer’s Digest monthly writing challenge
Deadline: Changing
Fee: Free
Prize: Winners will be published in a future issue of Writer’s Digest and on the Your Story winners page at WritersDigest.com.
Details: Your Story is a bi-monthly writing challenge in which Writer’s Digest provides a short, open-ended prompt. In turn, writers submit a short story of 750 words or fewer based on that prompt. Go to WritersDigest.com and search Your Story contest for more details.
AuthorStand Writing Contest
Deadline: February 13, every year
Fee: Free
Prize: The First Prize winner receives $100 and the Editor’s Choice winner receivers $250.
Details: This contest seeks short story submissions (1,5000 to 10,000 words maximum).
AuthorStand Very Short Story Writing Contest
Deadline: January 13, every year
Fee: Free
Prize: The First Prize and Editor’s Choice winners both receive $50.
Details: This contest seeks very short story submission (as the name suggests), with a 100 word minimum and a 1,499 word maximum.
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
Deadline: Accepts entries between August 15th of one year and April 1st of the next, every year
Fee: Free
Prize: The top prize is $1,000, with total cash prizes of $2,000 awarded.
Details: This contest seeks today’s best humor poems.
Go Teen Writers
Contests, encouragement and community for young writers.
NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month
Deadline: Begin writing Nov. 1st and finish by Nov. 30th
The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by Midnight on November 30th.
This information was created by Kate Hawthorne and Z, as part of Kate’s Girl Scout Gold Award Project, Troop 2746.