Calling all Newport Beach teens. Wondering how to spend your last few weeks of summer break? Feeling creative? Want to win $250?
The Newport Beach Library Foundation is sponsoring a creative writing contest for high school students. The contest is open to all students,14-18 years old currently attending high school or entering high school this fall. Students do not have to live in Newport Beach or attend a Newport school. The contest is open to all students regardless of the district, public or private, as long as the entrant possesses a Newport Beach Library card.
Newport Beach Library cards are free to California residents and can be obtained via email to nbplcirc@city.newport-beach.ca.us or through the library’s website, www.newportbeachlibrary.org.
The deadline for entries is Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. Entries are to be submitted via email to tkeys@newportbeachca.gov. Winners will be announced on or before Oct. 1.
In addition to bragging rights, the winner will receive $250 cash, and his or her work will be published in “The Bookmark,” the quarterly publication of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation. The stories of the runners up will be posted on the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation’s website.
If the winner is from Newport Beach, he or she will also be featured in The Newport Beach Independent.
Here are the rules:
- Length: Entries should be short stories up to 2,500 words in length
- Theme: Stories must be set in a library or feature a library-themed element, or in some other way revolve around a library. (Examples: Entries might be a mystery set in a library’s maze of tall bookshelves, a fantasy in which books obtain a life of their own or an unrequited romance between studious library patrons.)
- Format: Manuscripts must be in MS Word and include: A cover page listing the author’s name, address, phone number, email address, word count and manuscript title. This is the only page that the author’s name should appear. Following the cover page, should be a title page with no biographical information. Pages must be numbered.
- Each person may only enter one story.
Good luck, Newport teens! Make us proud!
Information about the creative writing contest is available at all the Newport Beach Public Library branches or by calling 949-548-2411 or e-mailing to info@nblibraryevents.com.
