A writing contest for high school students (9th - 12th graders) sponsored by the BYU English Department

Procedure and Rules

1. Prizes in each category--fiction, poetry, personal essay, and critical essay--will be $100.00 for first place, $70.00 for second place, and $45.00 for third place, along with an optional $30.00 fourth place and $20.00 honorable mention prize. 
2. The contest is open to any student regularly enrolled in high school or the equivalent. First place winners of one year's contest are not eligible for prizes the following year.
3. Each contestant may submit one entry in each category.
4. Each entry must be accompanied by a signed statement that it is the original work of the contestant and has not been previously published; the statement should also include the title of the entry, the author's full name, address, e-mail address, school name and address. If selected for a prize, winner's social security number will be needed.
5. Each entry should represent the writer's best work and should meet acceptable standards in grammar, mechanics, punctuation, and usage. Each entry should be neatly typed on one side only of good quality white paper; each page, after the first, should have the title of the entry in the upper left corner and the page number in the upper right corner. The entry itself should not include the author's name and must be clean, void of any extraneous markings.
6. Fiction entries should be between 1,000 and 4,000 words long. Indicate the approximate number of words on the first page of the entry, upper right corner.
7. Poetry entries may be in any verse form and may consist of one poem or a group of poems totaling 25 to 60 lines. Indicate the number of lines on the first page of each entry, upper right corner.
8. Personal essays may be from 700 to 2,500 words long. Indicate the approximate number on the first page of the entry, upper right corner.
9. Critical essays may be from 700 to 2,500 words long and include proper documentation if any is needed. Indicate the approximate number on the first page of the entry, upper right corner.
10. Entries will not be returned, critiqued, nor published.
11. All contestants, of course, should make and keep copies of their entries.
12. Final judges for the contest, including BYU writing faculty, published writers, and experienced literary editors, will evaluate entries solely on the basis of literary quality. If the judges feel that no entry has sufficient merit, they may choose not to award prizes.
13. Winners will be announced and prizes awarded in spring.
14. Entries containing offensive language and violence will not be considered.
15. See cover sheet for submission deadline and address at the BYU English Department Website: http://humanities.byu.edu/static/documents/org/1249.pdf.

Dr. Jim Barnes, Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and English, has made a generous contribution to the BYU English Department to establish the Carolyn Barnes Poetry Award as a memorial to his late and beloved wife, Carolyn.

Applicants must be an English major either in their senior undergraduate year or in the first year of the Master’s program. Applicants must be officially registered as full-time BYU students (12 credit hours) at the time of application. If a recipient changes his or her major, he or she forfeits the award.

Submission form

The Writer's Portfolio Contest is sponsored annually to encourage BYU students to develop a wide variety of writing skills-a kind of writer's pentathlon. It is challenging and rigorous-perhaps the most challenging of the BYU writing contests. It is open to all full-time undergraduate or graduate BYU students. The contest awards a single $500 prize, though the prestige and satisfaction of winning this contest are perhaps more important than the money.

Requirements and Judging:

Entrants will submit a portfolio of five pieces of writing conforming to the categories listed below. At least one of the items must have been printed in or accepted by a publication having a professional editor. Student publications may count if they are under formal faculty supervision. Published items may be submitted as xerox copies of printed pages, but should be clearly marked to show date and place of publication. Items accepted for publication must be accompanied by a copy of the letter of acceptance. One piece of writing might fit in more than one category, so each item must be clearly labeled to show under which category it is submitted. An item will be judged under only one category. Class papers may be used if they fit the requirements.

Entries will be submitted according to the English Department's printed schedule and will be judged by experienced writers who have published in several of the forms. If no portfolio achieves competence in all five forms and excellence in several, the judges may decide not to give the award.

Scholarly Paper or Article: For the purpose of this contest, a scholarly paper or article will be in a subject such as history, philosophy or one of the humanities. The submission should demonstrate that the writer is capable of evaluating sources and can draw valid conclusions from those sources. The sources may be primary or secondary and conclusions are drawn from qualitative evidence. Length should be 2000-5000 words.

Technical Paper: For the purposes of this contest, a technical paper will be in engineering, technology, or a physical, biological or social science. The conclusions must be based on quantitative evidence gathered from laboratory, field, or printed sources or combination thereof. The text should be supplemented as appropriate, by graphics. Length should be 2000-5000 words.

Popular Article: For the purpose of this contest, a popular article will be an informative article on any subject, but the article should be suited to an educated non-professional audience. The entry should contain a notation of the publication it is intended for. Graphics should be included as appropriate. Length should be 2000-3000 words.

Fiction or Drama: Ordinarily this item will be a short story or one-act play, but a segment of a novel or longer drama may be submitted if accompanied by summaries of preceding and following action. Length should be 1500-5000 words.

Poetry: The poetry entry may be one or several poems on any subject in any poetic form, rhymed or unrhymed, though doggerel will not do. The form must be suited to the subject and treatment. Length will be 100-200 lines.

For deadlines and submission information, see the Rules and Cover Sheet.

The Hart-Larson Contest is named after Professors Edward L. Hart and Clinton F. Larson, who for many years sponsored a poetry contest in the Department. Both professors wrote poetry and taught the writing of poetry.

Rules and Cover Sheet

This contest honors the memory of Ann Doty, an outstanding English major who was killed in an automobile accident at the end of her senior year. Ann Doty had an exceptional writing talent in fiction and is representative of the many students who strive to become good writers.

Rules and Cover Sheet

Professor Elsie C. Carroll was a distinguished member of the English Department for three decades and had a great interest in good student writing. Her family, to honor her memory and encourage writing, have set up an endowment to help fund this award.

Rules and Cover Sheet

Several years before his death in 1973, Wayne E. Mayhew of Berkeley, California, established a trust fund to provide annual awards in creative writing and fine arts at Brigham Young University in honor of his wife, Vera Hinckley Mayhew, a former BYU student. The first contest, in short story writing, began in 1963 - 64 and has continued annually since then. A second contest, in poetry writing, began in 1974 - 75. Then in 1978 - 79 four additional contests were started. Since that time, two additional contests were added, making eight annual contests.

All Mayhew rules and submissions are managed through the Mayhew Contest Website.

Each year the Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature sponsors this essay contest, the theme of which is “The Restored Gospel and Applied Christianity.” Essays of 3,000-5,000 words should be submitted by January 31. Besides having their essays published, winners in the graduate division will receive $1,200 (first prize), $1,000 (second), and $700 (third).

Please see the contest flyer for more information.

Details on the Brimhall Essay Contest can be found at the contest's website.