Young Writers Against the Machine Contest
Final call for submissions
If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.
- Martin Luther
This morning just a brief announcement to inform readers that the deadline for the Young Writers Against the Machine Contest has been extended to July 14th and it is free to enter.
The task is simple: Write a short story set in nature.
So get your youngsters writing - it’s the perfect way to spend a lazy summer afternoon!
See submission details below. For the inspiration behind the contest, see my original post Raising Writers Against the Machine.
Young Writers Against the Machine Contest
Taking seriously Seth Haines’ guiding ethos, “Any idea is only as good as its physical or tangible manifestation", I invite young writers to harness their language skills, apply their minds, and invest their hearts by writing a short story set in nature. This invitation is extended not only with the aim of raising and encouraging young writers against the Machine, but through the writers’ stories point towards the hope that “beauty will save the world”.
Awards
The awards for the Young Writers Against the Machine Contest have been generously donated by ICG Bullion, and in the spirit of tangibility and tradition1 will be paid in 1 oz .999 silver coins2!
There are two age categories: 9-12 and 13-16.
Each category will be awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.3
Winners will be announced on School of the Unconformed on August 1st, 2023.
What?
Write a short story set in nature (e.g. forest, field, mountains, tundra, desert, lake, ocean, etc.)
Stories can be fact or fiction
Stories must have a minimum of 750 words and a maximum of 1500 words
Stories will be evaluated by a panel of judges4
Stories will be judged on the basis of creative expression, storytelling, and language use
Who?
Students between ages 9 and 16 (two age categories: 9-12 and 13-16)
Only one entry per person will be accepted
Only single author stories qualify (no co-authored stories)
How?
Text can be typed or handwritten. Children who cannot type may have their completed stories typed up by someone else. If you would like to submit a handwritten entry, paste a clear photo into the text of the e-mail message.
Stories should be cut and pasted in the body of an e-mail, and sent to schooloftheunconformed@proton.me
No attachments will be opened.
Include student’s:
first and last name
age
mailing address
subscriber’s full name
Submit your entry before midnight July 14th, 2023
Submission Checklist:
I cut and paste my entry in the body of my e-mail to schooloftheunconformed@proton.me
I included my:
first and last name
age
and mailing address
subscriber’s full name
I submitted my story before midnight of July 14th, 2023.
My story is no shorter than 750 words and no longer than 1500 words
I added a title for my story
I checked my story for spelling and grammar mistakes
I wrote an original story and did not copy it from anyone5
Thanks to our sponsors!
If you would like to support the contest for Young Writers Against the Machine, please share and restack to spread the word. If you found this post helpful (or hopeful) consider supporting my work by becoming a paid subscriber, or simply show your appreciation with a ‘like’.
Silver coins as prize money has just taken on even more relevance with the Bank of England’s announcement that CBDCs are “likely to be needed”.
Each coin has an estimated value of $30 US dollars. The silver coins are from Canada, the U.S., Austria, Australia, and South Africa.
Thanks to my youngest son, who took the photos with a backdrop of our 1859 pictoral edition of the Webster’s Dictionary.
The judging panel will be composed of experienced writers or teachers. If you are an experienced writer or teacher and would like to volunteer as one of the panel judges for the contest, please contact me at schooloftheunconformed@proton.me. Note: relatives of judges are not permitted to participate in the contest.
You may ask how it can be ensured that entries are original and not created with AI writing tools. My answer to that lies in what I call the “Windspiel Principle”. A couple of decades ago, my husband and I lived in a lovely Ottawa neighbourhood, and I wanted to hang up a beautiful windspiel decoration on our veranda. I knew that there was a chance that it would be stolen. I could have refrained from hanging it up, but then the beauty would have been kept from the passers-by who frequently admired it. I would rather someone steal the windspiel, than not share its beauty. In the same way I would rather run a contest with the possibility that a rotten apple may cheat, than withhold the opportunity from all the contestants to share their beautiful writing. On a positive note: the windspiel was never stolen.
What do you do when children have writer’s block? My students encountered this when tasked with writing about “nature.” Here are a few comments the children made, and how I helped them overcome their obstacles. Although we have used a two different curricula for teaching how to write, there’s nothing like the possibility of winning a prize to get a child motivated to review their lessons! The following suggestions are summaries from the curriculum we've used.
“Help, I don’t know what to write about!”
I try to ingrain a habit of writing in my students. Diary or journals are great for this. Regularly write about events that happen during the week, funny anecdotes, jokes you hear, or adaptations of other’s stories. One of my students can easily write (or tell) a story on her own, but when she heard she had to write about nature, she stalled. I flipped through her journal and showed her several instances where she had already written about an event set in nature, and the light bulb in her eyes shone.
“Help, my story is too short!”
• Way to go! You’ve got the basics, now you can add details to make it more exciting.
• Do you have the basic framework of a story? Often a short story is structured like this:
◦ Character X wanted Y, but obstacles got in the way and they learned stuff. The end.
• Add descriptions. Try to use all five senses. If your character is in the neighbor’s garden, what does she see, smell, hear, touch or taste? Take a field trip, if possible, to your location and describe what you experience.
• Add dialogue. Instead of writing, “They decided to go to the store.” Show the reader what the characters actually said.
“Help, my story is too long!”
• Way to go! You have a great start to writing a novel.
• Try to get down to the basics of the story. What is the story about? If there parts of the story that don’t relate to your character’s overall mission, perhaps you don’t need it. Summarize dialogue instead of writing it out.
• If your story is only slightly too long, look up filler words that aren’t adding anything to the story: anyways, suddenly, really, very, you know, like, I guess, totally.
◦ Anyways, I really think, like, that you totally get what I’m saying, you know?
“Help, my story is too boring!”
• Way to go! You’ve written a story, and you’ve identified an area you can improve.
• Have you added conflict to a story? That doesn’t necessarily mean two people fighting, it just means something gets in the way of a character getting their mission accomplished. Maybe a child wants to grow a pea plant, but forgets to water it, his brother stomps on them, the deer eats the shoots, and then the plant gets hit by lightning. His forgetfulness, brother, deer and lightning are all obstacles in the way of finishing the job of harvesting peas.
• Have you selected your words carefully? “John went to the store.”
◦ Open a thesaurus and look up the word went or go or walk. Did he trudge, stomp, skip, or race? Be careful with this one! Don't use a word unless you comprehending what it explanation.
◦ Which store did John visit? Was it the farmer’s market, musty antique shop, or ice-cream truck?
Readers: What other obstacles have you come across, and what was your solution?
I passed this on to the lead organizer for our classical Christian co-op a few months ago. She said she knew of some students/families who would definitely be interested (her kids included). I don’t know if anyone has has actually submitted any stories. I just wanted to chime in to say thank you for organizing this and that I hope it’s a huge success! God bless!