Serendipity35

2010 Categories: Poetry (one poem), Short story (10-page max.), Personal essay (5-page max.)  All personal essay submissions must respond to this year’s prompt. Poetry and short story submissions are not limited by topic.

Personal Essay Writing Prompt: By choice and by chance, we all belong to many groups. These groups include not only those into which we’re born or which we build over time (such as family and friends) but also other groups that form more fleetingly out of circumstance (such as “the students who take the 7:30 bus” or “the ones who sit out during gym” or the readers of a certain blog). In a personal essay, tell your readers about one of the groups to which you belong, or to which you once belonged. Use imagery, details, and other narrative techniques to bring to life your group. Encourage your readers to consider meanings through your portrait of, and reflections on, your group.

You might use the following questions to prompt and/or to guide your writing about your group:
Who are you? Where do you "live together"? By what rules or understandings do you live? How do you impact one another and/or how do you impact others and the world? What do you learn together? What do you share together? Why is this group important?

Aim to educate your readers about segments of life and views on life that they might not already know. You might find it useful to imagine that you are describing your group to a visitor from another country (a distant relative or an exchange student visiting your school) and that you are acting as the spokesperson for your group. Surprise your readers as you allow them to see through the eyes of the group. We encourage you to express your answer in the first person plural (“we”) voice.

Each student may submit a maximum of one entry in each category. Each participating teacher may submit up to ten entries in each category.

This year all submissions and all judging will be digital. Students (and/or teachers on behalf of students) will upload submissions to the online galleries listed below. Upon approval by contest curators, submissions will be published to an online gallery of writing. Until judging is complete and to ensure fair judging, all submissions will be posted anonymously.

Submission deadline: December 15, 2009

Poetry Submissions:http://www.galleryofwriting.org/galleries/735416

Personal Essay Submissions: http://www.galleryofwriting.org/galleries/699259

Short Story Submissions: http://www.galleryofwriting.org/galleries/725566

Questions or concerns? Want more information? Visit the contest blog: writingteacher.edublogs.org and njcte.org