WRITE TO WIN!
2024 Statewide Writing Contest
for Oklahoma Students and Teachers
NO ENTRY FEE ~ Enter Via Teacher E-mail Only
Deadline January 16, 2024
Limit, 15 student entries per teacher. NO ENTRY FEE. No student may have more than two pieces entered, total, and only one per genre. Teachers may enter two pieces, only one per genre. In addition, teachers may enter up to 5 student sentences (limit one per student) and one teacher sentence. (Sentences do not count against the total of 15 other entries. Sentences can be taken from larger pieces of writing.) Please do NOT enter pieces previously entered in other statewide contests.
All entries must be attached to an e-mail sent from teacher’s school e-mail address. Each entry must be a separate e-mail.
Winners in each division will be invited to an OWP Spring Celebration & Writing Conference and will have their writing published in the 2023 Anthology of Winning Writing and on the OWP Website. Winners and their teachers will receive free anthologies of winning writing.
Students and teachers will be competing against others in their own divisions and genres. Divisions are determined by grade rather than by school level: Primary (pre-K though 2nd); Intermediate, (grades 3-5); Middle School (grades 6-8); High School, (grades 9-12), and Teacher.
Writing Contest Genres
Students and teachers have several genres to choose from:
Descriptive Paragraph
Describe a person, a place, an object, a feeling. The paragraph can be an excerpt from a larger piece of writing or can be complete in itself. Put the reader there with sensory details and telling facts. Limit 150 words.
Personal Narrative
Write a personal memoir or a narration of an event in your life. Try to cover a very short period of time. Details are important. Be sure to use active, vivid verbs. Combine description with action to put the reader there. Limit 2000 words.
Poem
It can rhyme, but it doesn’t have to. It can be metered or free verse. Try including similes, metaphors. personification. Experiment with repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia. Limit, 66 lines.
Short Story
Create the characters and come up with a conflict. Put those characters in a place and time and see what they decide to do. Try weaving together action, dialogue, and description to keep the reader involved. Limit 2000 words. Longer stories will be disqualified.
Flash Fiction
Also called “sudden fiction,” this genre packs a punch with a small amount of text. A complete story includes the traditional elements of setting, characterization, and conflict. Choose a time and place, narrow your focus, start in the middle of the action, keep the reader guessing, and end with a bang or a twist! Limit 100 words.
Essay
Stand up for an issue; change someone’s mind. You can pick the topic. Suggestions? Comment on controversial issues, current events, art, television, movies, books, videos, video games, products. Show us how to look at something from another viewpoint. If you cite sources, do it correctly! Limit 1000 words.
Writing Across the Curriculum
You can also enter writing you did in a class other than language arts—science, social studies, math, etc. (Description, Narration, Poetry, Essay) Limit 1000 words.
Sentence
Write a sentence, any kind, any length, any subject. Be creative. One winner for each grade level. Hint: Using figurative language and poetic devices might help you win.
Comic
Use drawing and words to tell a story. Use color or black and white. It can be one panel or multiple panels. Limit 2 pages (Standard Letter size 8.5 by 11 inch). Upload a PNG or JPEG of your comic into a Word document.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR TEACHERS
Each piece should be typed as a Microsoft Word document in 12-point font, double-spaced. If we can’t open the document, it may be disqualified. (Google Docs sometimes cannot be opened without school’s permission.)
IMPORTANT: Do NOT include student’s name, school, or teacher in the attached document (entry) but only the title and the writing. Only the attachments will be forwarded to the contest judges.
Send a separate e-mail with attachment for each entry. Subject of e-mail should be the title of the piece. Title of the attached document should be title of the entry. In the body of the e-mail, list:
•Genre of entry
•Title of piece
•Student’s name
•Student’s grade
•Teacher’s name
•School
•School address
•School phone
•Teacher’s school e-mail address
E-mail entries to owpwritingcontest@gmail.com by January 16, 2024. Entries received after that date will not be accepted. Limit is 15 entries per teacher, limit two per student in separate genres, in addition to 5 sentences. Teacher may enter 2 pieces, each a different genre, and one sentence.
Questions? E-mail owpwritingcontest@gmail.com or janiscramer@att.net. Text 405-250-5400. For samples of winning writing, the 2023 Anthology of Winning Writing by Oklahoma Students and Teachers is available for $6 on amazon.com under Books.
Sign Up for Monthly Tips on Teaching Contest Genres,
With Student Samples
Teachers interested in receiving monthly writing tips and samples of various contest genres, please sign up now. Contact Janis Cramer, contest coordinator, at owpwritingcontest@gmail.com with the following information:
- Your name
- Your school
- Your school e-mail address
- School address
- Subject and Grade Level(s) taught
