As we prepare for the groundbreaking ceremony for the Meta Shaw Coleman Children’s Imagination Station – September 28, 2023, at 5pm – we invite you to imagine with us. In honor of the new and exciting opportunities the Children’s Imagination Station will provide, we encourage you to write about your vision and imagination for the future. This is an open topic, but writing ideas include what you want to be, the way you imagine the world, how issues you notice today will be put behind us, and the ways you envision your life making a difference. Imagine your past, imagine your future….imagine, imagine, imagine. Additional writing prompts and resources will be provided to the Young Online Writer’s League through the Discord app, which can be joined by visiting turnercenter.org/for-youth-yowl/.

Rules and Guidelines:

The three categories for entry are non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. You must be grades 5th-12th to enter, AND between the ages of 11 and 18. The categories will be judged at the middle school (5th-8th grade) and high school (9th-12th) level. It is critical that you meet both the age and grade requirements to ensure fair judging of your entry. Students must also live in the State of Georgia, or a surrounding state. The eligible states are Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The file name for your submission should follow the format FirstLastnameCategory (eg., HaileyRathmannNonfiction, HaileyRathmannFiction, HaileyRathmannPoetry).

Your piece will be judged in the category you submit it for – verify that you have chosen the right category before submitting. If you purposely or accidentally submit an entry that is the same as a piece you previously submitted within 10 words, only the most recent entry will be submitted for judging. If it is the same as a piece previously submitted by any other participant within 10 words, you will both be flagged for investigation of plagiarism, with consequences up to and including disqualification of both participants from the contest.

You MUST list the title of your piece, as you would wish it to appear if published, above the main text of your submission. All entries must be single-spaced with 12-point Serif font (e.g., Times New Roman, Bookman, Garamond, Palatino, Source Serif). The margins for all categories must be set to standard guidelines. The remaining formatting guidelines per category are listed below.

Nonfiction Formatting Guidelines:
All nonfiction entries must be between 250 and 2000 words (including a title, but not including any header or footer information your teacher may require if this is a school assignment).

Fiction Formatting Guidelines:
All fiction entries must be between 250 and 2000 words (including a title, but not including any header or footer information your teacher may require if this is a school assignment).

Poetry Formatting Guidelines:
All poetry entries must be between 30 and 1000 words (including a title, but not including any header or footer information your teacher may require if this is a school assignment).