Literacy Council of Highlands - Writing Contest


Purpose: To promote creative writing at all levels at the Highlands
School.

Contest:  The student will compose, write, and edit their own
composition. The work may be of any form of prose or poetry, of any
length, and on one of the following topics:

•        A person living or deceased who resided in Highlands, North
Carolina.
•        An actual event that took place in Highlands, North Carolina.
•        A future event occurring in Highlands, North Carolina as
imagined by the writer.
•        A descriptive work of the town of Highlands, North Carolina.
•        A personal reflection of their life in Highlands, North Carolina.

Process:  
•        Any student at Highland School wishing to participate will register
with the School Coordinator who will provide the writer with a
Contestant Number.  This number will be used to identity the writer as
either a High School Student (HS) or Middle School or below (MS).
•        The Contestant Number will be composed of two numbers;
Student Level (Either MS or HS) and sequence number (e.g HS is a
High School level student and is the second High School level student
registered, MS-1 is the first Middle School student registered)
•        Completed submissions will be made to (English/writing Teacher)
no later than Friday May 2, 2008.
•        Submissions will be judged by the contest judges based on the
impact of creative work only. The length of the work is only important in
the context of the authors work; there will be no added or deducted
points by the judges based on the length of the work. Covers, bindings,
and other presentations of the creative work will have no impact on the
judging of the Creative Work.
•        The judges will be Matthew Eberz (Author - Tenth Man, Very
Public Data), Marjorie Fielding (Publisher Laurel Magazine),  Ran
Schaffner (Author – Heart of the Blue Ridge), Joshilyn Jackson  (Author
– Between Georgia, Gods in Alabama) and Clair Simpson
(Owner/Operator Cyrano’s Book Shop).
•        The Contestant Numbers of the judge’s top four submissions will
be reported to Coordinator who will inform the contestants of their top
four finish. The identity of the winner will only be known by the Judges
who will know the winner only by the entrant’s Contestant Number until
the winner’s number is announce.

Awards:
•        There will be two (2) winners, one from each Student Level, who
will each receive a $250 cash award.
•        The other top two finishers will receive a $100 credit for the
purchase of any books at Cyrano’s Bookshop.
•        The winners will be announced at Cyrano’s or On the Veranda
on May 17, 2008.
Writing Contest
Our Panel of Judges
Joshilyn Jackson's short fiction has been
published in literary magazines and
anthologies including TriQuarterly and Calyx,
and her plays have been produced in Atlanta
and Chicago. Her bestselling debut novel,
gods in Alabama won SIBA's 2005 Novel of
the year Award and was a #1 BookSense pick.
Between, Georgia was also a #1 BookSense
pick, making Jackson the first author in
BookSense history to receive #1 status in back
to back years. Jackson read the audio version
herself, winning a Listen Up award from
Publisher's Weekly and making Audiofile's
Best of 2006 list. Both books were chosen for
the Books-A-Million Book Club. Her third novel,
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, has just
been released published by GCP (formerly
Warner Books). Ms Jackson will be conducting
a signing of her new book at Cyrano's
Bookshop on May 17th.
Joshilyn Jackson
Matt Eberz is a local
resident of Highlands and
is the author of two
novels, Tenth Man and
Very Public Data which
will be available this May.
Matt will be will
conducting a signing of
her new book at Cyrano's
Bookshop in May.
Ran Schaffner is a local resident of Highlands
and is the author of Heart of the Blue Ridge
Highlands, North Carolina.
Marjorie Fielding is the Publisher of the
Laurel Magazine.
Clair Simpson is the Owner and operator of
Cyrano's Bookstore.