2016 Young Spurs writing contest
July 22 -24, 2016
Grapevine, Texas
ELIGIBILITY
High school and community college students, 14-20 years old are eligible for this contest.
SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS RECEIVE
The top 10 stories will be selected by a jury pool of prominent narrative nonfiction writers. These 10 winners will each be awarded a scholarship to attend the most renowned narrative nonfiction conference in the country, The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in Grapevine, Texas on July 22-24, 2015. The scholarship covers conference registration, hotel rooms and meals for the students and their mentors. Transportation costs are available on an as needed basis.
Winners will participate in a writing workshop Friday, July 22, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The top essays also will be published by The Dallas Morning News. The winners will also be honored during conference festivities. All activities are held in the conference hotel.
CONTEST DETAILS
All essay entries must be unpublished, detailed profile of a Pulitzer Prize winner whose writing about conservation/related science fields show an impact on public affairs and public policy. You may refer to the Pulitzer website, http://pulitzer.org, for examples. You may receive help, advice and counsel from your teachers, parents or other mentors. You may also obtain assistance in typing your paper, but the writing, thoughts and conclusions must be your own.
Your profiles on a Pulitzer Prize winner:
• Can be about someone locally, in your state, in the United States or internationally.
• Must be well researched and include a properly cited bibliography (MLA, Turabian, etc.) of at least five or more reliable sources from interviews, books, magazines or online research.
• Must be original work, written in a compelling narrative style, that enlarges and illuminates our understanding of the event or character you’re writing about.
• Must be well organized, with a beginning, middle and end, demonstrating a thorough command of the event or subject matter.
• Must use correct syntax, grammar, spelling and punctuation
• The profile must be a minimum of five pages, and cannot exceed 20 pages, double
spaced or about 5,000 words. As a general guideline, 1,200 words is the average length of most submissions to our narrative writing contest.
• Must use Arial style, 12 point type, double spaced with one-inch margins.
• No identification should be on any pages of the submission.
Your submission will be disqualified if:
• It is not original work or considered a profile of a Pulitzer Prize winner.
• It falls short of or exceeds our length requirements.
Winners
The winners will be notified May 1. Each winner will be sent copies of all workshop submissions, with critique sheets and instructions. Before July 22, writers are expected to carefully read all the submissions in their assigned workshop, make written notations on the submissions and also complete the critique sheets. The critique sheets will be presented to each writer at the end of the workshop session, and your workshop leader will also present each workshop participant a written evaluation with suggestions on ways to revise and improve the biography.
In the critique sheets, each workshop participant will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the biography with respect to the quality of the research and the writing. Workshop participants will address such issues as clarity, comprehensiveness, creativity, the presence or lack of a narrative thread and articulated theme, vivid and concrete detail, anecdotes, metaphor, scene setting, dialogue and other literary devices used in writing the biography.
SUBMITTING
§ One electronic copy of the submission only (Word Document only) – submitted via e-mail by midnight on March 31, 2016, to . The subject line must read Young Spurs Submission.
§ Two unstapled printed copies must be sent in two separate folders, along with one hard copy of your application, signed in blue or black ink. Submissions must be postmarked by March 31, 2016 and mailed to:
JoAnn Livingston
Writing Contest Coordinator
Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism
University of North Texas
1155 Union Circle, #311460
Denton, TX 76203-5017
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
JoAnn Livingtson
Writing Contest Coordinator
214-403-5853
2016 YOUNG SPURS CONTEST APPLICATION FORM
DEADLINE: March 31, 2016
Fill in blanks by typing in the gray text boxes. Then print form to sign and mail.
Title of your profile:
Author’s name
Author’s birthdate
Address
City State Zip
Phone Cell
E-mail address
Name of school
City in which school is located
Teacher’s name
E-mail address of teacher
Telephone number(s) of teacher:
Work Cell
Name of student (please print)
________________________________________________________________
Signature of student
________________________________________________________________________
Name of parent of teacher (please print)
________________________________________________________
Signature of parent or teacher
________________________________________________________________