2023 Teen Writing Contest

The Morristown Festival of Books is proud to celebrate the power of the written word by bringing award-winning authors to the Morristown community each fall. The annual Festival has the power to challenge, transport, and transform individuals of all ages as well as bring the community together in conversation.  

To mark our 10th anniversary and to encourage future award-winning writers, MFOB is again sponsoring a Teen Writing Contest. This year’s contest theme is “friendship.” New Jersey high school students are invited to submit either a short story (fiction or nonfiction, up to 1,000 words) or a poem that relates to friendship: lost or found; real, imagined, or metaphorical. Only one submission per author (in only one category), and stories should stand alone and not be part of a larger work. 

Submission Details

Submissions for our 2023 contest are now closed. Thank you for your interest – we have received many entries and look forward to announcing our winners at the Main Festival on Saturday, October 7! Winning entries will be posted on this page following our award ceremony.

Qualifications

Author must be a high school student (public, private, or homeschooled) in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12 in the 2023-2024 school year.  
Author must live in New Jersey.

Contest Sponsor: The Gunzler Family Memorial 

The Festival’s Teen Writing Contest is sponsored in memory of John and Marianne Gunzler. They both had a zest for life, and although their formal educations were limited by their circumstances, they each had passions for learning and reading. They would have been thrilled to be associated with this event, as they believed in encouraging young minds, especially in terms of curiosity and creativity.

Prizes

Three finalists will be selected in each category, three in short story and three in poetry (for a total of six finalists). Honorable mentions will be awarded at the discretion of the judges. In each category, the first-place winner will receive $300. The second-place winner will receive $200. And the third-place winner will receive $100. Any honorable mentions will be recognized and included in the Festival, but receive no prize money.

Authors will be notified in September 2023 if their work is selected as a finalist. Finalists will be announced at the Festival and invited to read their work during a special presentation on Saturday, October 7, 2023. Prior to the Festival, the winning entries will be posted on the Morristown Festival of Books website. 

Judging

Judging will be based on the following criteria:

  • Originality
  • Creativity
  • Writing style
  • Thematic relevance
  • Overall writing quality

For additional information please email teenwritingcontest@morristownbooks.org.  

The Morristown Festival of Books will be held on October 6 & 7, 2023, in Morristown, NJ.

Contest Rules and Regulations

All entries must:

  • Be no more than 1,000 words.
  • Be written in the English language.
  • Be wholly the original work of the entrant, written solely by the entrant.
  • Not be copied from any other source.
  • Not have been previously broadcast or otherwise distributed or disseminated in any media or format.
  • Not be in the public domain.
  • Not be in violation or in conflict with the trademark, copyright, rights of privacy, right of publicity, or any other rights of any kind or nature of any other person or entity.
  • Not include any language or other content that is inappropriate, offensive, pornographic, or otherwise unfit for dissemination or broadcast, as determined by the Morristown Festival of Books in its sole discretion.
  • Be submitted by the stated deadline.

Submissions not satisfying these criteria in any respect will be disqualified. If the Morristown Festival of Books, in its sole discretion, has reason to believe that any entry contains any material that may infringe or violate any law or any rights of a third party, or that the use or broadcast of such entry in the manner described herein may infringe or violate any law or any rights of a third party, the Morristown Festival of Books may immediately disqualify such entry and take any other measures the Morristown Festival of Books may deem appropriate or necessary.  

Grant of Rights

By submitting a written entry, the entrant grants to the Morristown Festival of Books:

  • The right to edit the writing for grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and
  • A nonexclusive, assignable, perpetual, license to produce, publish, distribute, transmit, exhibit, exploit, and license the written work and any portions thereof in any format (collectively “distribute” or “distribution,” as applicable) by any and all means, uses, and media, whether audio, print, audiovisual or otherwise, now or hereafter known, throughout the universe in all languages without financial compensation.  

 

Not Eligible to Participate

The following, and their family members, are prohibited from participation in this contest:

  • The Board of the Morristown Festival of Books
  • The panel of 2023 judges

 

2023 Judges Panel

  • Noga Beer, Language Acquisition Teacher, Middle School Advisory Board, Red Oaks School
  • Jeff Campbell, Author and Writing Teacher
  • Matt Daly, English Teacher, Co-Director Life Design Lab, Morristown High School 
  • Dr. Linnea Hasegawa, English Teacher, Morristown Beard School
  • Dr. Andrew Lutz, Chair, English Department, Gill St. Bernard’s School
  • Ellen Papazian, Writer and English Teacher, Livingston Public Schools