Hey fellow writers! Haven’t seen a thread for this yet, so here it is! Type all of your questions, thoughts, concerns, triumphs, and failures in this forum, I invite you.
1 Like
Yay! So happy to see this thread! I just found out about Scholastic this year and I have a few questions. First of all, I’m interested in competing in the novel category and I was wondering how judging worked for that. Do they read the entire book or just the 3000 word excerpt? If they do read the entire book, is there a certain word count I should stay under/above? And how hard is it to get a gold key in novel writing?
Heyyy! I’m not entering in the novel category, so I wouldn’t know. However, look at Scholastic’s website! They have descriptions, word counts, and rules for all of the categories.
Hi! I’m a sophomore entering the awards. I’m entering in poetry, journalism, and critical essay. I was wondering: do you have a better shot submitting poems that could go together but aren’t necessarily super similar as a single entry, or submitting them each individually? Thanks!
I would say, if possible, submit them all separately (if you can afford the submission fee, of course). However, if you have poems that go well together, are parts of a series, or revolve around a common theme, I would put them together.
1 Like
@tk0424 thanks! I’m so nervous haha. I think my strongest category will be journalism. Anyone who has entered journalism or who is entering it have any advice?
Hi! I’m a junior entering into the awards for the first time. I’ll be submitting around 4 pieces in different writing categories. Is this a good amount to submit? How many pieces do people usually submit? Thank you and good luck to everyone applying!
Well I’m submitting 2 journalism articles, 2 critical essays, and a few poems. Originally I was gonna submit the poems together but now I’m leaning towards separately. I don’t know what the usual/average amount is, though.
That’s awesome, I hope you do well! Do you think submitting a piece to flash fiction would do better than short story?
Hey! I’m a junior entering Scholastic for the first time. I’m planning on entering for short story, poetry, and possibly cnf and flash fiction.
@yangpie I’m not sure if flash fiction or short story is more competitive, tbh maybe just let the piece dictate the length? Or write a short version and a long version and decide which you like better?
Wishing you all the best of luck!
I’ve been panicking all day because I haven’t finished my essay. Then 6 hours before the deadline, they announce they’re extending it to next week for my region.
Time to procrastinate more, I guess.
Hii everyone,
Just for my personal process in submitting, I usually just write throughout the whole year and dump all of the pieces that I’m satisfied with into a big submission pool for scholastic. The submission fees usually aren’t too much of a strain, so I can afford to do this. You shouldn’t worry about which genre to submit to, or which are more competitive than others, just do what you most enjoy. I like to dabble in a lot of genres.
For some general statistics,
Around 5-10% of entries get gold keys, around 10-20% get SK, and around 20-30% get HMs, but this depends on your region.
Good luck!
2 Likes
Just submitted my pieces! I did 5 in total. Now for the dreadful wait…
1 Like
Yep, the wait is always torture.
hey guys! so scholastic released their decisions today for my region. i got two gold keys for my poems and for one of them i’m an american voice nominee! i don’t really know what the american voices nominee is (if someone could explain it since this is my first year applying, thanks). but good look to you all!
2 Likes
omg congrats!! i think an american voice nominee is when they nominate your work for the american voice award (not sure if thats exactly what its called) but from what ive heard its a pretty prestigious national level award :))
2 Likes
also ignore my pfp lmaoao i dont know how to change it ;-;
haha thanks. i was reading last year’s forum and i hope none of you are that stressed! i entered youngarts this year and didn’t get anything so don’t worry that much lol. you guys are all super talented!
3 Likes
wow congratulations!! my region isn’t releasing for a few weeks… i remember seeing you on the youngarts thread as well 
1 Like
Wow, congrats! Good luck in nationals!
1 Like