ROCK SPRINGS — To spark the interest and stimulate youthful imagination, Sweetwater County School District #1 is inviting students to participate in the Annual Young Authors Contest. “It’s a great opportunity for children to get excited about writing and to earn recognition for participation.” District Coordinator Tammy Macy said, “Everyone gets a certificate of participation, one way or another.”

The contest is not required or part of any mandatory curriculum. Instead it is an opportunity for students- Kindergarten through 12th grade- to explore their writing skills and story telling abilities. Contestants may enter works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The fiction and non-fiction entries may not exceed 4,000 words. Poetry may include an epic poem or collection of five shorter poems and must include a table of contents. All submissions should be in a book form and no larger than 9×12 inches. All entries should have a front cover with a title and book cover, which is not part of the text. Most importantly, a Young Author entry form must accompany the submission. The deadline for submissions is February 6, 2015.

After submissions are received, they will be judged and passed along to the county for further judging. It is a tight schedule to go through all of the submissions, Macy said, but she is happy to increase the amount of entries she will see this year. “I really enjoy reading the entries, they can be a lot of fun” Macy said. Judging guidelines are based on age and ability as well as much more specific criteria including: ideas and content, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, presentation and mechanics. Every entry is double scored for validity.

First, second and third place winners are invited to attend the District Celebration February 26th, to find out where they placed. First place winners receive a plaque and $5 gift cards and will be eligible to compete at the County level. Second place and third place winners win $5 gift cards. The state has changed their requirements for submissions so this year Sweetwater County School District #1, Sweetwater County School District #2 and the Holy Spirit Catholic School will bring their winning submissions and judge them at a county level. There will be one winner for the county selected at each grade level in fiction, non-fiction and poetry. These winners will be recognized at a county level celebration to be held April 9th.