Back to School Contest

Details

Fall is on the way, and you know what that means: time to get back to school. Whether you’re a student or a teacher, a parent or a bus driver, September is the time to get down to the business of learning. You may dread it, living across the street from a school whose bells haven’t rung every 45 minutes from 7 am to 4:30 pm all summer. You may look forward to it, the possibilities of learning and advancing in life too good to pass up. Whatever the case may be, I want to hear your going back to school story. If you dropped out, I want to hear about that too. I don’t want to hear fiction, though. I want to know the truth. I want to know about your real experience. To do this, you’ll explore the realm of creative nonfiction.

Creative nonfiction blends factual information and the writer’s own passion for the topic with literary forms. Basically, you tell the story to entertain the reader, but the story actually happened. Creative nonfiction is less formal than typical nonfiction writing. It’s more personal, allows the reader into your world (as opposed to the worlds we create for our characters). This time, you are the main character, and you’ll tell your own story.

Need some more info on creative nonfiction? Try here.

In no more than 3000 words of creative nonfiction, tell me your back-to-school story. It has to be yours, and yours alone. No outside-self main characters allowed.

Winning entries

Winners have been announced! Log in to see them.

Prizes

Rules

• Your entry must be a piece of creative nonfiction totaling 3000 words or fewer as counted by Scribophile.

• Entries must be received before midnight on September 30th, 2012 (UTC time), and winners will be announced within two weeks of that date.

• Entries will be judged by Scribophile staff. Decisions are final.

• Only one entry is allowed per member. Multiple entries will all be disqualified.

• Work must have Public visibility on Scribophile until winners are announced.

Submission guidelines

• To enter the contest, post your work on Scribophile and check the box that says "Enter this work into the Back to School Contest". Your work will automatically be considered. The checkbox will be visible until the contest deadline, which is in UTC time.

• Entry is free, but you'll need karma points to post your work. You can earn karma points by writing critiques of work by other members.

• If you have placed in a contest in the past with a particular piece, you may not resubmit that piece in other contests.