Event details

Registration

  • Participation is free and open to all high school students worldwide. There is no cost associated with registering.
  • Registration is open now and closes on April 30, 11:59 PM EDT. You must register by this time to participate.
  • We will ask you to provide a username, a password, your full name, your email address, your graduation year, the name of your school, and your country.

During the contest

  • The contest will be open on this website from May 2, 12:00 AM to May 3, 11:59 PM EDT.
  • You can start at any time of your choosing within the contest window.
  • Once you start, you’ll be given two hours to submit either a poem or a short story in response to a specific prompt —to which you will not have access beforehand.
  • You will only be allowed to submit in one genre.
  • If you finish before the two hours, feel free to submit early. Remember to press the “Submit” button, because otherwise we won’t be able to access your work!

Judging

  • Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of renowned authors and professors of English and creative writing. They will select a winner, a runner-up, and a third-place winner, and three honorable mentions in each of the two genres (poetry and fiction).
  • Due to the volume of submissions we received, winners will be announced in July. All contestants will receive an email when this happens.

Prizes and recognition

  • Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, the winners for each genre will receive a $1,000 cash prize, the runners-up will receive $250, and the third-place winners will receive $125.
  • In addition, they will all receive books from our sponsors.
  • Three honorable mentions will be named for each genre.