<p>1) What time of year does the competition normally begin?
2) What is the deal with a teacher sponsor? Do you normally ask your English/Art teacher to sponor you? If so, what is the commitment on their end?
3) How stiff is the competition? I noticed that 10% of entries make it to the national level. What is the quality of the work like?
4) Does a 9th grader have any chance at getting to nationals, or is that practically unheard of?
5) [if applicable] What is your experience with this competition at the regional or national level?</p>
<p>1) Submissions are generally due at the beginning of January
2) For Writing Awards, you have a englsih teacher sponsor you. For Art, you have an ar teacher. However, tehcnically, any teacher can sponsor you
3) It's fairl tough, esp, in the categories which are very popular
4) 9th graders do have a chance, its just very VERY hard since you compete with seniors and juniors
5) I have won 1 Honorable Mention, 1 Silver Key and 2 gold keys in art</p>
<p>For the Writing awards, would you mind giving a rough ranking of the popularity of different categories, ie:
- the most popular categories
- the averagely popular categories
- the less popular categories</p>
<p>i was wondering about this too
what do you think are popular/least popular for art?
obv drawing and painting would be the most popular but how about the others?</p>
<p>my school doesn't really participate in the writing awards, so i just asked my english teacher to sign the form--he didn't even ask to read the pieces--and that was basically the end of it....when i was in 9th grade, i won a national silver for poetry, gold key for short short story, and last year a silver key for poetry. making it to national judging largely depends on how competitive your region is, too.</p>
<p>1) You can submit anytime after Scholastic posts the application -- usually around September or October.
2) There is virtually no commitment on your teachers' end. They can attend the award ceremonies if they care to do so, or they can sign your form and never think about the Competition again. It depends on your relationship with your teacher.
3) The competition is definitely stiff - particularly in more popular regions such as NY and other metropolitan areas.
4) It's not unheard of at all. They judge you on the quality of your work, not your age.
5) In the 2007 awards, I won two regional gold keys and a national gold award for writing (humor category). The Carnegie Hall ceremony was really fantastic!</p>
<p>Any more questions? Feel free to PM me!</p>
<p>Oh, and ChaosTheory: for examples of past winners, you can visit Scholastic's Art and Writing Awards website. They post virtual exhibitions of award-winning work from the past few competitions.</p>
<p>1) You can check their website but I think it's somewhere in January for writing submissions.
2) Just ask your English teacher that you are entering the competiton. My english teacher had no idea what this competition is but they'll gladly sponsor you.
3) Hmm, I spent about two weeks writing a memoir junior year and it made gold key and onto nationals. I think you just need to have a really distinctive voice in your writing. Who knows? Writing competitions are subjective.
4) No it's possible
5) Didn't get anything at nationals :(</p>
<p>There are two divisons--one for middle school and one for high school--so it's extremely possible that a 12-year-old can get gold.
My creative writing class enters it every year and we usually get a couple of gold keys. Sophomore year, I got a gold on nationals for short story. We also had a girl get a silver on nationals for writing portfolio, which was insane since they only give out, like, 5 or something.</p>
<p>aguynamedpoop....ya, i know that all gold keys get forwarded to nationals, but in some more competitive regions it is more difficult to receive a gold key</p>
<p>Another question...What sort of piece belongs in the Humor category? The site says "humorous submissions from ANY category", but what qualifies as humor, exactly? My short story isn't exactly serious, as in I put in a bit of sarcasm/wit (let's hope) and the topic is not a grave one. Should I submit it as humor?</p>
<p>Humor can be, quite literally, anything you want (as long as it's humorous, that is! And what do I mean by "humorous"? Trust your own judgement. I'm sure you'll be able to tell).</p>
<p>Last year, I sumbitted the Humor category 1) a short scene meant for the stage and 2) a parody (also in scene form). I won national gold.</p>
<p>For examples of what scholastic likes to see under the Humor category, simply go to their website and look at past winners' work.</p>