Poetry & Short Fiction Contest

Any young writer who will be between the ages of 11 and 29 as of August 4, 2018 can enter this contest. The contest submission period ends at 11:59 PM EDT on May 15, 2018.

SUBMIT HERE

The contest will be divided into four categories, based on age and writing type:

  • Ch1Con (ages 11-20, as of August 4)
    • Poetry: no longer than 1 page, single-spaced
    • Short Fiction: 1,000 to 5,000 words
  • Ch21Con (ages 21-29, as of August 4)
    • Poetry: no longer than 1 page, single-spaced
    • Short Fiction: 1,000 to 5,000 words

The prizes for each category are:

  • First Place: 50% discounted admission to the applicable 2018 Chapter One Events conference in Chicago, publication in an eBook anthology, and voucher for a critique from a member of the Chapter One Events team on the writing project of your choosing (one novel up to 90,000 words; one short fiction collection up to 25,000 words; or one poetry collection up to 50 pages)!
  • Second Place: 35% discounted admission to the applicable 2018 Chapter One Events conference in Chicago and publication in an eBook anthology!
  • Third Place: 20% discounted admission to the applicable 2018 Chapter One Events conference in Chicago and publication in an eBook anthology!
  • Honorable Mention: publication in an eBook anthology!

The rules for entering are:

  1. This contest is open to writers who will be between the ages of eleven (11) and twenty-nine (29) at the time of the 2018 Chapter One Young Writers Conference (Ch1Con) and Chapter Twenty-One Conference (Ch21Con), which will take place Saturday, August 4, 2018 in Des Plaines, Illinois, USA.
  2. All entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM EDT on May 15, 2018 to be considered for a prize.
  3. Each writer may enter up to three short stories and three poems. In the short fiction category, more than one short story per entrant may receive a prize, but only one of your short stories may place in the top three. (If we are considering more than one of your short stories for a prize, the higher ranking one will receive its prize, and the lower ranking one(s) will be relegated to honorable mention(s).) Likewise, more than one poem may receive a prize, but only one of your poems may place in the top three. (If we are considering more than one of your poems for a prize, the higher ranking one will receive its prize, and the lower ranking one(s) will be relegated to honorable mention(s).)
  4. Three winners–first, second, and third place–will be chosen for each category, as well as an unspecified number of honorable mentions. (We will choose honorable mentions based on merit, not a quota.) First place will receive one e-voucher for a writing critique (as detailed above). Additionally, first through third place winners will receive discounted admission (as detailed above) and publication in the contest’s eBook anthology. Honorable mentions will receive publication in the contest’s eBook anthology.
  5. Short fiction submissions should be between 1,000 and 5,000 words.
  6. Poetry submissions should be no longer than 1 page, single spaced.
  7. We’d prefer submissions to be in standard formatting: Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced for fiction and single-spaced for poetry. Please do not include any personal information in the short story or poetry document itself. [We’ll be a little flexible, but don’t bring out any wild fonts.]

A panel of Chapter One Events team members will judge the contest. The judges are:

  • Ch1Con: Poetry
    • Joey Brant is a Deputy Creative Consultant for the Chapter One Young Writers Conference. He is in the eighth grade, and enjoys writing fantasy and horror. His short fiction has appeared in the 2017 anthology This Is the End: Short Stories by Young Writers.
    • Christel Thompson is the Marketing and Social Media Manager for the Chapter One Young Writers Conference. She is pursuing a B.L.A. at the University of Illinois and is the author of the YA novella Carmen.
    • The tiebreaker judges for this category will Ariel Kalati and Julia Byers (see bios below).
  • Ch1Con: Short Fiction
    • Zoe Noble is a Deputy Creative Consultant for the Chapter One Young Writers Conference. She is a writer of novels, short stories, poems, and songs. She was the first place poetry and third place short fic winner of Ch1Con’s 2017 Poetry and Short Fiction Contest.
    • Brett Jonas is the Chief Creative Consultant for the Chapter One Young Writers Conference. She is an author of YA contemporary and fantasy novels and short stories. Her short stories have been featured in several anthologies, including the anthology all about pizza, A Pizza My Heart.
    • The tiebreaker judges for this category will be Allison Mulder and Katie Nichols (see bios below).
  • Ch21Con: Poetry
    • Ariel Kalati is one of the founding members of Chapter One Events, and currently serves as the marketing manager for the Chapter Twenty-One Conference. She has been writing poetry since middle school. She was selected as a finalist in a Creative Communications poetry contest and was published in Teen Ink when she was a teenager. Now, she studies all genres of creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College, where she has received a scholarship for her poetry and continues to write.
    • Julia Byers is the president of Chapter One Events, within which she is the director of the Chapter Twenty-One Conference and founder of the Chapter One Young Writers Conference. She graduated from the University of Michigan, with Highest Honors in Creative Writing & Literature, and from the inaugural Columbia Publishing Course UK, an intensive course organized in collaboration by Columbia University and Exeter College, Oxford University. Her poetry has been published in White Ash Literary Magazine and (when she was fifteen) Teen Ink Magazine.
    • The tiebreaker judges for this category will be Joey Brant and Christel Thompson (see bios above).
  • Ch21Con: Short Fiction
    • Allison Mulder is the Chief Creative Consultant for the Chapter Twenty-One Conference. She writes fantasy, science fiction, and–often by accident–horror. Her short fiction has appeared in various pro-level markets such as Escape Pod, Fireside Fiction, InterGalactic Medicine Show, and more. She also works as a First Reader at Strange Horizons, sifting through submissions to help decide what’s worth a second look from the editors.
    • Katie Nichols is a Deputy Creative Consultant for the Chapter Twenty-One Conference. Katie enjoys all forms of storytelling, including short fiction. She has read, written, and critiqued many short stories in the time she’s been a writer and she runs an annual New Year’s Eve Short Story Challenge on her blog.
    • The tiebreaker judges for this category will be Zoe Noble and Brett Jonas (see bios above).

To enter, fill out the submission form linked below by 11:59 PM EDT on May 15!

SUBMIT HERE

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at one of our social media accounts, or email us at chapteroneconference@gmail.com (for writers ages 11-20) or chapter21conference@gmail.com (for writers ages 21-29).

Since the contest will be judged by a panel of Chapter One Events team members, we promise to be as objective and… good-judge-y… as possible. This means this will be a blind judgment process. (None of the judges will know who any of the contestants are while judging the submissions.)

Good luck to all of you! Submit away!