By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
The writing skills of Ellis County students are set to once again be on display during the Hays Arts Council’s creative writing contest.
The contest is open to works written by all K-12 students during the academic year.
“There's a lot of amazing young poets and authors out there, there really are,” said Hays Arts Council executive director Brenda Meder.
And now, she said, is an opportunity for that work to be recognized, outside of a typical classroom setting.
“So, if you've got a young poet, you've got a child that's in the fourth grade, or the sixth grade, or a sophomore in high school, and they are just a creative poet, they paint pictures with words instead of a brush, those things can come in as independent submissions, because it's about bringing that opportunity to the young person, not that it's got to come through the schools.”
Homeschooled students are also encouraged to enter.
“If you’re homeschooled, or if you've got a child whose teacher or you know or classroom isn't participating in a formal way with this, we will still accept those entries,” Meder said. “If you are someone who's going to do an independent submission or homeschooled, just get in touch with me as the date nears.”
For students in a traditional classroom setting, up to 15 entries will be accepted per class for both prose and poetry.
Each entry will be judged anonymously and will be accepted until March 9.
Again this year judges will be English instructors from Fort Hays State University.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you and bless their souls. They are the ones who do the judging for us on this,” Meder said. “It's like all art forms, it's subjective on a certain level, but it is by a group of people who know what they're talking about. And it all goes in anonymously. And so we give them the week of spring break, and the week after knowing many aren't available spring break. So that's where the deadline has to be before spring break.”
Following the judging process, first-, second- and third-place winners, along with honorable mentions, will receive ribbons at an awards ceremony scheduled for May 1.
Winning entries will be compiled and published into a book, which will also be presented to winners.
“We are so grateful to the Hays Optimist Club, one of the reasons they freeze thier you know what's off selling Christmas trees at Walmart, they do so much good across the community,” Meder said. “And one of the projects that we are with that we are fortunate to be the beneficiaries of is the creative writing (contest), they give us a very nice, a nice gift so that we can publish those books by the award ribbon winners and host a wonderful reception to celebrate those accomplishments and make them very public so that they have that talent and that skill is validated.”
Cover image courtesy Pixabay