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McAllen- The McAllen Book Festival is excited to announce the 2017 Youth Creative Writing Contest.
Children and young adults, age 6 to 18 years old, are invited to submit an original work on the theme, “I want to build a better world because…” Each year, the McAllen Book Festival hosts the writing contest to encourage creativity through writing. Winning submissions will be showcased in the library and winners will have the opportunity to read their submissions at the McAllen Book Festival on November 11, 2017. The competition guidelines are below.
Competition Guidelines
Note: Entries that do not meet the following requirements will not be accepted.
General Eligibility:
- Contestants must be children and teens between the ages of 6 – 18 years old.
- Contestants must be residents of Starr, Hidalgo, Willacy, or Cameron counties.
- All entries must be written in English, and address the theme, “I want to build a better world because…”
Submission Guidelines:
- The contest opens on Monday, July 10th, 2017.
- The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 29th, 2017 at 5:00PM.
- Only one entry per category (poetry or flash fiction) may be submitted by an individual.
- Entries must be original works and cannot be copied from a previous publication.
- Entries must be written by a single author; no collective or joint projects will be considered.
- Late entries will not be considered.
- Entries must be submitted electronically at https://mcallenbookfestival.com/writing-contest/
Maximum length:
- Poetry – 20 lines
- Flash Fiction (prose) – 300 words
Winning Entries:
The McAllen Book Festival Committee will choose up to three winners per category (poetry and prose) per age group (6-9, 10-13, 14-18). Authors of winning entries will be notified by Friday, October 27th, 2017 by McAllen Public Library.
Judging:
Entries will be reviewed by members of the McAllen Book Festival Committee. The decisions of the judges are final.
Disclaimer:
McAllen Public Library assumes no responsibility for lost or misdirected entries. All entries become the property of McAllen Public Library without infringement on the copyrights of the entrants. Submission to the Writing Contest means that the writer grants permission for the publication of their submission, if it is selected as a winning entry. MPL reserves the right to edit for spelling and grammatical errors. All entries will be screened for proper submission procedures and will not be considered if they do not meet the guidelines.
Call McAllen Public Library at 956.681.3000 for more information.
