2012 Young Southern Student Writers Contest Rules

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Please read carefully and follow directions.  NO ENTRY FORM IS TO BE USED, BUT ALL ENTRIES MUST FOLLOW THE FORMAT LISTED ON THE NEXT PAGE AS WELL AS THE OTHER LISTED RULES.  This required format assists us in correctly identifying students, teachers, and schools.  Similarly, this format helps us in scanning the winning entries for publication.  Because we anticipate nearly 5,000 entries, we cannot publish entries which do not follow the format.  Thanks so much for your help!  And good luck to all of our young southern student writers!

Contest Rules

1.     Students from any school (K-12) in the greater Chattanooga area are eligible to enter as long as entries are submitted by a teacher from that school.

2.     Entries may be submitted in either or both of two categories:  prose (fiction or nonfiction) or poetry.

3.     Each student may submit one entry per category.  Students who submit multiple entries in the same category will be disqualified.

4.     Maximum length for prose entries is 1000 words; maximum length for poetry entries is 50 lines.

5.     Each entry must be the original work of the student, and it must not have been previously submitted to another contest or competition.  Submission of the entry is an indication of acceptance of and adherence to these rules.

6.     All entries must be submitted together by the teacher.  Please attach a cover sheet for each batch of entries that lists the teacher's name (as it is to be printed in the awards booklet), the school, the address for the school, the grade(s) of the students, and the category of the entries (e.g., prose or poetry).

7.     Entries must be postmarked by December 9, 2011.

8.     A winner in each category will be named from each participating school that has at least five entries in that category.  Schools with 16 or more entries in a category will have two winners; those with 31 or more will have three winners.

9.   Participating schools which are comprised of more than one level (i.e., elementary, middle, and high) may have winners at each level if the appropriate number of entries is submitted for each level.

ENTRY FORMAT

1.     Each entry MUST be written in English and printed in a standard font (e.g., Times, Times New Roman) using black ink.  Absolutely no cursive or decorative fonts.  Single spacing is preferred, but double-spacing is permissible.  No illustrations or drawings of any kind should be included in entries.  Compiling the winning entries is time-consuming and cannot be accomplished in a timely manner without scanning entries, so following these rules is essential.

2.     Do not include a title page.  Instead each entry must follow the format below:

Title of entry (Do not put in quotations marks, italics, or all capitals.)

Body of the paper

The following information (flush left) following the body of the paper:

Student's Name

Student's Grade

Student's School

Student’s Teacher

Example:

Ima Student

Grade 7

Martha Washington Academy

                        Ima Teacher

UTC English faculty and graduate students will evaluate all entries on the basis of creativity, content, and style to select the outstanding writer(s) in each category from each school. These young writers will be presented medals at a ceremony to be held April 17, 2012. Winning entries will be featured in an online publication.

Mail all entries, postmarked by December 9, 2011, to:

                        Dr. Joe Wilferth

UTC English Department (# 2703)

615 McCallie Ave.

Chattanooga, TN 37403

Questions:  Call the AEC office at 267-1218 or email Dr. Wilferth at Joe-Wilferth@utc.edu.