$1,700 awarded to youths in 2011
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. 2011 awards will total $1,700, thanks to 2011 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 2012 contest (the 2011 contest is closed). Eligible entries must be published during calendar year 2011. The Norm Strung Youth Writing contest deadline is March 16, 2012.
2012 Norm Strung Youth Writing Contest Rules
1. The work must have been published in a newsletter, newspaper, magazine, literary collection, etc. during 2011. 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 mailing entries is March 16, 2012. Send entries to OWAA Headquarters, 615 Oak St., Ste. 201, 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.
