I have been in charge of short story contests before. What we did was get have a couple people pick out the top ten stories from the entries and then have a published author make the final choice of winners. Prizes were of course donated.
The idea I really want to share that I have not seen much is the micro short story contest. It is only three lines. Authors get points for characterization, plot, forshadowing, ect.
It's a great puzzle to get ideas into just 3 lines, but the results are great and less time to judge.
The entries can be written, judged and awarded all in the same day. It's really fun.
Thank you everyone for your input.
The article stated how the theme changed every year, I believe last year was Friends and Family and they had 3 categories: prose, poetry, and art. And it was for the 3rd - 6th grades. 1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes plus honorable mentions and the winners all got a book with a copy of all the winning entries, plus other prizes - Like lunch with the Principal, things like that. It enabled the students to focus on something that was educational and fun.
We are having our first writing contest this spring. (Had our first art contest this past fall, MANY lessons learned there, by the way). We hope to have judges from the local writers association. Our theme is easy in that our school has a theme each year, so we will use the same. No school time is to be used to participate (except for collecting the entries). I am curious though, how many categories will you use? I had considered some sort of essay and poetry, with competition inside each grade level. Also, any advice on this is appreciated.
Our school does a writing contest during 'Say no to drugs' week. The actual contest is organized and run through the city's police department. Just an idea if you'd like to go that route.
We don't do a writing contest, but our 3rd grade (I think) has an "Author's Night" that's really fun. They have an assignment for a particular writing assignment and then each of those writings along with a author's bio is displayed on a long tables by class in a special reception.
It's presented as a very classy affair, the parents come. There may be a contest involved because I think they read two or three of the entries. The "authors" drink mock champagne out of plastic champagne glasses.
Our school doesn't do this but my husband and I are members of the Optimist International and they sponsor a HUGE essay contest every year. Their biggest challenge is getting hte word out, for you that would be talking to the teachers and I would see with them how they could incorporate this into their lesson plans (hey, two birds withone stone!) You will need judges, a theme (something teachers can help with), maybe prizes and a event to announce the winners. THat's off the top of my head, I'm sure there could be more!
What a great way to get your teachers involved!!! Your gonna need them for this event!
