Guidelines have been revised from last year. Please read to the end.
Deadlines
Grades 3-8: February 2, 2024 Grades 9-12: March 1, 2024
Contest entries can be mailed at anytime before the deadline. The extended submission period allows flexibility for teachers to work within their curriculum schedules. We have changed the high school deadline so that students taking ELA in the second block semester can participate.
Rules and Eligibility
Students in grades 3 – 12 who attend an Alamance County public, private, charter, religious or home school are eligible to enter.
No previously published entries, including awards, will be considered.
Important: Entries must be mailed by teachers. If you send both poetry and fiction entries, please separate them inside one envelope, or mail separately.
Address entries to: Grade School / Genre (e.g. Elementary School Poetry) New! Mailing address: 213 S. Main St., Graham, NC 27253
Submission Guidelines
For ALL submissions (For genre specific guidelines, see below)
Typed original or clear copy
8 1/2″ x 11″ plain white paper
NO name on entry
11 or 12 font size
Title at top of the page
Include a 3″ x 5″ index card OR single sheet of paper that includes: title of entry, student’s name, address, phone number, school name, teacher name, email address, and grade. Paper clip to entry.
Students may enter both categories
Poetry
One entry per student
32 lines maximum
Single space
Fiction
One entry per student
1,000 words maximum
Double space
Word count in top right corner of first page
Students of winning entries will be notified by the end of March. Teachers will receive status of all their student entries by early April. All winners will be honored at an award ceremony in late April. First place winners will read their entry at the awards ceremony. Teachers and administrators encouraged to attend!
Practice any art . . . no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
—Kurt Vonnegut
The Burlington Writers Club annually sponsors the Student Writing Contest to recognize exceptional student writers in Alamance County. The contest is made possible in part by a grant through the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, and Alamance Arts.
