Who May Enter:
All students in grades 1-12 in Huntsville, Madison City, and Madison County public, private, virtual and home schools are eligible.

When to Enter:
The 56th Annual Young Writers Contest opens on February 5, 2024.
All entries must be submitted by midnight March 4, 2024.

1. All entries must be the original work of the individual student with only general constructive assistance from the teacher. Plagiarism or cheating has not been and will not be tolerated by the Young Writers Contest Committee and judges. Teachers and parents, please emphasize the importance of original creations. (We realize that some young students may require parent/teacher assistance with online submissions. This is perfectly acceptable, provided the entry content is the student’s original work.)

2. Entries must NOT have been previously published elsewhere, including school newspapers and magazines, and must NOT have previously received recognition in another contest. An entry must NOT be sent simultaneously to the Young Writers Contest and to any other contest or publication except to the student’s own school magazine, other school or PTA sponsored contest.

3. There should be NO identifying information (name, school, email) included in the entry.

4. Students may submit an entry in each category for their grade level, but only one entry per category is allowed.

5. Children of the judges may not enter the contest under the same category in which the parent is a judge.

6. The Young Writers Contest may not be judged by any teacher employed in the city, county, or private school where the contest is held.

7. For all entry categories, students will submit entries online at the website YoungWriters.hlahsv.org. Students must first register for the contest on that site. After registering, students can then upload their entry to the site. When students submit an entry, the entry will be assigned a unique number. There must be no student information in the entry itself or in the file name so that contest judges will see only the assigned number when evaluating an entry. Poetry and Short Story entries should be .doc, .docx, .odt, .rtf or .txt files and comply with the length requirements for the entry category. Senior Art Work entries should be .jpg, .jpeg, or .png files with a maximum file size of 5MB. There should be no identifying information in the art work itself.

8. HLA reserves the right to make no awards in a category if, in the opinion of the judges, there are no entries of sufficient quality to merit the award.

9. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place Poetry and Short Story winning entries will be published in the Awards Ceremony booklet. Published entries may be edited to correct unintentional typographical, spelling and grammatical errors. The 1st place Art Work will appear on the front cover, and the 2nd and 3rd place Art Works will appear on the back cover.

All winners, their parents, and teachers will be guests of HLA at the annual Awards Ceremony and reception on May 12, 2024, to be held at Chan Auditorium in the Business Administration Bldg. on the UAH campus.

For more information contact:
Dr. Ramona L. Hyman, Chair @ ramona.hyman@yahoo.com
or Carol Ashburn Roach, Co-Chair @ cashroche@bellsouth.net

This program is made possible with a grant from the Huntsville Arts and Cultural Grant Program.