Norm Strung Youth Writing Awards
$1,700 awarded to youths in 2010
Outdoor Writers Association of America helps budding writers via its annual Norm Strung Youth Writing Contest. Cash prizes are awarded to winners in grades 6-12 for poetry and prose categories. 2010 awards will total $1,700, thanks to 2010 Youth Writing sponsor Safari Club International. If you know a student who would like to enter the contest, rules are found below.
Currently accepting entries for the 2011 contest (the 2010 contest is closed). Eligible entries must be published during calendar year 2010. The Norm Strung Youth Writing contest deadline is March 15, 2011.
2011 Norm Strung Youth Writing Contest Rules
- The work must have been published in a newsletter, newspaper, magazine, literary collection, etc. during 2010. The publication can be school or club related, or commercial.
- At the time the article was published or accepted for publication, the author must have been a student in grades 6-8 to enter the junior division; grades 9-12 (including prep school) to enter the senior division.
- The topic must be outdoor oriented (hiking, camping, boating, fishing, hunting, nature, ecology, canoeing, etc.). Any prose or poetic form is acceptable.
- Entrants must submit one original published copy (tear sheet) of the entry. The tear sheets must contain the publication name and date. A cover sheet needs to include the entrant’s address and grade in school at the time of publication. If these criteria are not met, the entry will be disqualified.
- Students may enter as many pieces of writing as they wish; however, each student will be limited to one prize per annual contest.
- Deadline for receiving entries is March 15, 2011. Send entries to OWAA Headquarters, 121 Hickory St., Ste. 1, Missoula, MT 59801. Mark the lower left hand side of the envelope with the division for which the entry is intended (“Junior” or “Senior”), and for the category (“Prose” or “Poetry”).
- OWAA will announce the winners at its annual conference. OWAA reserves the right to reprint the winning articles in its monthly publication.
The 2010 Norm Strung Youth Writing Contest
was sponsored by Safari Club International
and the Safari Club International Foundation
2010 Norm Stung Youth Writing Competition Winners
Sponsored by Safari Club International.
The Norm Strung Youth Writing Committee announced the winners of the 2010 Norm Strung Youth Writing Competition, sponsored by Safari Club International and the Safari Club International Foundation. The contest honors outstanding writing by junior high and high school students. This year’s total payout was $1,700.
The contest has categories for poetry and prose in two divisions: junior (grades 6-8) and senior (grades 9-12). Entries must be outdoors oriented and already have been published in a newsletter, newspaper, magazine, collection, etc. Cash awards and certificates are granted for both divisions.
Senior Poetry
- First Place: “The Naturalists” by Erica Berry (Portland, Ore.)
- Second Place: "First Hunting Adventures" by Kaitlyn Rabaey (Marshall, Minn.)
- Third Place: "Gone Huntin'" by Nathan Kennedy (Rensselaer Falls, N.Y.)
Senior Prose
- First Place: “Answer” by Michael J. Cambareri Jr. (Lacona, N.Y.)
- Second Place: “Another Pheasant Tale” by Kimberly Moy (Cokato, Minn.)
- Third Place: “John Muir: America's Most Famous Environmentalist” by Staphanie Erin Sykes (Madison, Wisc.)
Junior Poetry
- First Place: “Wild Turkey Surprise” by Caroline Priore (Kenyon, Minn.)
- Second Place: “Things are Changing” by Stephanie McMillan (Independence, Iowa)
- Third Place: "Hardly Seeing, but Always KNOWING" by Kelly Parker (Jefferson, N.Y.)
Junior Prose
- First Place: “My First Bird (And a Decoy!)!” by Cole Meade (Seaman, Ohio)
- Second Place: “My Hunting Trip” by Cody Kennedy (Prairie du Rocher, Ill.)
- Third Place: “Journey to Carmen Lake, Alaska” by Tiancheng Sun (North Potomac, Md.)