$1,700 to be 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.  Eligible entries must be published during calendar year 2009. The Norm Strung Youth Writing contest deadline is March 15, 2010.

2010 Norm Strung Youth Writing Contest Rules

1. The work must have been published in a newsletter, newspaper, magazine, literary collection, etc. during 2009. The publication can be school or club related, or commercial.
2. 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.
3. The topic must be outdoor oriented (hiking, camping, boating, fishing, hunting, nature, ecology, canoeing, etc.). Any prose or poetic form is acceptable.
4. 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.
5. Students may enter as many pieces of writing as they wish; however, each student will be limited to one prize per annual contest.
6. Deadline for receiving entries is March 15, 2010. 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”).
7. OWAA will announce the winners at its annual conference. OWAA reserves the right to reprint the winning articles in its monthly publication.

The 2009 Norm Strung Youth Writing Contest
was sponsored by Safari Club International
and the Safari Club International Foundation

2009 Norm Stung Youth Writing Competition Winners

Sponsored by Safari Club International.

The Norm Strung Youth Writing Committee announced the winners of the 2009 Norm Strung Youth Writing Competition, sponsored by Safari Club International amd 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: “An Unfortunate Hunting Adventure” by Gianna C. Anderson (St. Hilaire, Minn.)

Senior Prose

• First Place: “The Unseen Intruder” by Michael J. Cambareri Jr. (Lacona, N.Y.)
• Second Place: “Transformation in the Tree Stand” by Nickole Witzel (Centerville, Minn.)
• Third Place: “McAlester: A Traditional Hunt” by Steven Maichak (Edmond, Okla.)
• Fourth Place: “Sheltered Child” by Tyler Olson (Spokane, Wash.)

Junior Poetry

• First Place: “Hunter’s Big Day” by Shelby Johnson (Pierz, Minn.)
• Second Place: “The One That Got Away” by Jonathan Decker (Akron, N.Y.)

Junior Prose

• First Place: “Hunting Sharing the Heritage” by Raini Stiles (Collinsville, Okla.)
• Second Place: “Why I Want to be a Fly Fisherman” by Sam Guida (Nisswa, Minn.)
• Third Place: “Squirrel or Not, in the Woods with Dad is the Place to Be” by Bradley Sprau (Rocky River, Ohio)
• Fourth Place: “Fishing Memories” by Jessica Gruss (Selkirk, N.Y.)