2022 Teen Writing Contest

2022 Teen Writing Contest for N.J. High School Students

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 9th festival year and to encourage future award-winning writers, MFOB is again sponsoring a Teen Writing Contest. This year’s contest is on “Flash Fiction”: High school students from New Jersey are invited to submit a fictional short story on any theme, in any genre, that is 1,000 words or less. This should be a standalone story and not part of a larger work.

Prizes

First-place winner will receive $500.
Second-place winner will receive $250.
Third-place winner will receive $100.
Four honorable mentions will each receive $50.

Contest winners will be announced as part of the Festival on October 7 & 8, 2022.

 

Submission Details

The submission deadline is midnight (ET), July 1, 2022.

Entries with a word-count limit of 1,000 or less must be submitted electronically as a Word document to teenwritingcontest@morristownbooks.org. Do not include your name in the electronic filename of the document. 

The submission must have a cover page that includes:

  • Author’s name
  • Home address
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • School name with full address and phone number
  • Grade for 2022-23 school year (9, 10, 11, 12)
  • English or writing teacher’s name

The cover page does not count toward the 1,000-word limit. 

Qualifications

  • Author must be a high school student (public, private, or homeschooled) in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12 in the 2022-2023 school year.
  • Author must live in New Jersey.
  • Only one submission per author.

 

Contest Sponsor: The Gunzler Family Memorial

The Festival’s teen writing contest is being 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

Up to seven entries will be selected as finalists. Authors will be notified in September 2022 if their story is selected as a finalist. The finalists will have their stories posted on the Morristown Festival of Books website. 

Contest winners will be announced as part of the Festival on October 7 & 8, 2022. First-place winner will receive $500. Second-place winner will receive $250. Third-place winner will receive $100. And four honorable mentions will receive $50.

Judging

Judging will be based on the following criteria:

  • Originality
  • Creativity
  • Writing style
  • Overall writing quality

For additional information, please email teenwritingcontest@morristownbooks.org.

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:

  1. The right to edit the writing for grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and
  2. 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:

  1. The Board of the Morristown Festival of Books.
  2. The panel of 2022 judges.

 

2022 Judges Panel

  • Matt Daly, English Teacher, Morristown High School
  • Dr. Linnea Hasegawa, Adjunct Instructor of Writing, Drew University
  • Dr. Andrew Lutz, Chair, English Department, Gill St. Bernard’s School
  • Jeff Campbell, Author and Writing Teacher
  • Noga Beer, Language Acquisition Teacher, Middle School Advisory Board, Red Oaks School
  • Erinn Salge, Head Librarian, History Teacher, Morristown-Beard School
 

Click here to download a printable version of the contest details.