PRIZES:

First, second, and third place winners in each age group will be printed in The Homeschooler Magazine. Other entries may be but are not guaranteed to be published.

Prizes are as follows:

RULES:

Submission of entry into this contest constitutes acceptance of all rules and conditions.

• Entrants must be residents of Utah, between the ages of 5 and 18 (5 and 18 are OK), who are participating in homeschool during the 2024-2025 school year.
• Only one writing contest entry is allowed per student per contest. Students MAY submit student spotlights, book reviews, big wins, AND one entry in the writing contest.
• No vulgarity, profanity, gratuitous violence, or “adult themes” are allowed. Entries must be “family friendly” and suitable for reading by children and adults of all ages.
• AI is strictly prohibited and may NOT be used in any form at any stage of writing. You may NOT use ChatGPT, Grammarly, or any other AI to brainstorm essay ideas, generate an outline, write any text, or improve text you have written. All words should be the student’s own. Spell check is OK.
• Entries must be the student’s own original work and must not copy from books, movies, or online content. Entries that contain plagiarism will be disqualified.
• All entries must be in English.
• All entries must be typed and submitted digitally. No hard-copy entries or pictures of hand-written entries will be accepted.
• Copyright remains with the author, but The Utah Homeschooler has the right to publish it in the magazine, post it on their website, or use it for promotional materials.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

• Student’s first and last name, age, and mailing address. (Only first name and last initial will be published.)
• Student’s typed writing contest entry; can be included in the body of the email, attached as a word document or PDF, or shared as a Google Doc file. If formatting matters (i.e. for some poetry), attach it as a PDF to preserve the formatting.
• A photo of the student that shows their face
• A signed Rules Agreement & Publication Release waiver (click here to get it). Please note that a new signed agreement is required for each contest.

Entries must be submitted no later than 11:59 PM on Friday, April 18, 2025. Send entries to:

contest@TheUtahHomeschooler.com

JUDGING:

Entries will be divided into three age groups for judging: 5-8 year olds, 9-12 year olds, and 13-18 year olds. They will be judged on the following criteria, adjusted to age-appropriate expectations:

GUIDELINES FOR PARENT INVOLVEMENT:

• Parents may teach their student about short stories. They may help brainstorm ideas by discussing themes, characters, or settings, but should avoid suggesting specific details or plot points. Parents can guide the process with open-ended questions, but should not provide solutions or make creative decisions for the student.
• Parents may not “give” their student any words, either by prompting with sentence starters, making specific suggestions, or writing any portion of the story for their student. All the words in a contest entry should be the student’s own words. All the words in a contest entry should be the student’s own words.
• Parents may proofread their students’ story, meaning they may make corrections to spelling and punctuation. They may not edit their story, meaning they may not add, remove, or rearrange any words or suggest that the student do so. Parents may edit practice stories inspired by other images as part of their instruction, but they may not edit any story that is entered into the writing contest.
• Parents MAY type or transcribe essays for children who cannot type, but MAY NOT edit or change their students’ words while doing so.