First of all: Grab your calendar, find April 5, 2014, and mark down the San Antonio Book Festival. It will be here before you know it.
Next, ask yourself: Do I know any promising young writers who are currently in grades 9 to 12? If so, please suggest that they enter the San Antonio Book Festival Fiction Writing Contest (pdf). The submission deadline has been extended to midnight on January 13, 2014.
The cash prizes (sponsored by the Texas Cavaliers, of Fiesta River Parade fame):
- First place: $150 for the writer, and $500 for his or her school
- Second place: $100 for the writer
- Third place: $75 for the writer
Even more precious than the money, perhaps, is the opportunity to reach an audience: the winners’ stories will be presented at the San Antonio Book Festival on April 5, 2015 at the Central Library and the Southwest School of Art.
As I homeschool my son this year (earlier post), I have learned to appreciate the power of incentives. This contest might be just the thing you need to motivate your young fiction writer.
Read more:
- “San Antonio Book Festival Fiction Writing Contest: Cash Prizes!!”, Veronica Rouse, Seven Lovely Things, December 19, 2013.
- “‘Animal Amigos!’ and ‘Black & Blanco’ complete the ArteKids bilingual board book series”, Inga Cotton, San Antonio Charter Moms, July 18, 2013 (discussing the Arte Kids series, a collaboration between the San Antonio Public Library Foundation, the San Antonio Museum of Art, and Trinity University Press).
- “Our Visit to The Texas Book Festival in San Antonio”, Alvina Castro, There’s Magic Out There, May 1, 2013.
- “The San Antonio Book Festival Was Here and We Can’t Wait For Next Year!”, Michelle Hernandez, Family Love In My City, April 29, 2013.