Thinking of entering our creative writing & art contest for teens?

READ THIS FIRST!

The Rules

(Yes, rules suck. But these aren’t a big deal. Promise.)

Most important: You must live in Josephine County, Oregon, to enter.
(Other Southern Oregon counties, we’re starting with Josephine, but will include you next time!)

What can you submit?

Bring us your creativity! We accept:

📖 Short Stories
Fiction up to 1,500 words

💥 Manga & Comics
Up to 4 printed pages

🎨 Visual Art
Photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, and other visual art. If your work is three-dimensional, send us a high-res photo of it.

📝 Poetry
One poem per person (We know it’s hard to choose, but send us the one you’re most passionate about.)

Can it already be published?

For poetry and prose, your work should not have been previously published by a publication. But if you’ve shared it on your own website, blog, or social media, that’s fine. Send it!

For art, work that has already been exhibited or printed is welcome.

How many things can I enter?

You may enter once in each category.

So yes, you can submit a poem AND a short story AND an art piece. 

But you can’t submit three poems or two stories. One entry per category, please.

What about AI?

We want to see YOUR creativity, ideas, words, and art.

We do not accept work generated by AI, either in whole or in part. The exception is original digital artwork in which AI has been intentionally incorporated as an artistic element. If that applies to your work, tell us how you used AI in your submission description.

One last thing ❤️

All voices belong in the arts.

We especially encourage submissions from young people whose voices and experiences haven’t always been given enough space.

Be bold. Be weird. Be funny. Be serious. Be completely yourself.

We welcome work from all kinds of perspectives, but we won’t accept submissions that promote harmful stereotypes or demean people because of who they are.

Whew! That’s it for rules. Now keep reading for formatting guidelines. Yes, these matter, so please read carefully.

Formatting Your Entry

We want to judge your work, not your formatting skills, so we’ve kept this pretty simple. But please follow these guidelines! Entries that don’t meet the requirements may not be considered.

SUPER IMPORTANT: Keep It Anonymous!

Our judges review entries without knowing who created them.

Do NOT put your name anywhere on your submission. That includes:

• The document or artwork itself
• Headers or footers
• The filename

You’ll give us your name separately on the entry form, so we’ll still know the masterpiece belongs to you. 

Short Stories

• Maximum 1,500 words
• Use 12-point Times New Roman
• Use 1-inch margins
• Include page numbers
• Include a title. Your title does not count toward the 1,500-word limit.
• Submit as a Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF file.

Manga & Comics

Your artwork and lettering can be formatted however your story needs them to be.

The only big rule: maximum 4 printed pages.

Visual Art

• Submit your artwork as a JPEG
• Images must be at least 300 dpi
• If you’re photographing a painting, drawing, sculpture, or other physical artwork, take a clear, straight-on photowhenever possible.
• Make sure your image is well lit and shows your work clearly.

And remember: no name or signature visible in the image.

Poetry

• Use 12-point Times New Roman
• Single-space individual lines
• Double-space between stanzas
• Generally, left-align your poem
• Include a title, unless the form traditionally doesn’t use one.
• Creative formatting is welcome, but extremely complicated layouts may be difficult for us to reproduce exactly.

Before You Hit Submit…

Give your file one last look:

No name? ✓
Right file type? ✓
Within the length/page limit? ✓
Formatting looks good? ✓

Then send it our way. We can’t wait to see what you’ve created.

Submission deadline:

Midnight, October 18

Why Enter?