Contests

Personal Essay Contest with the Society of Young Inklings For as long as Stone Soup has been around, we have been publishing nonfiction narratives and personal essays/memoir under the “Story” label. This has frustrated me ever since I became editor two years ago because, as a writing teacher, I spend much of my time teaching my students about the importance of understanding the distinctions between genres. The way we approach fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as both readers and writers, is drastically different. For this reason, I am very happy to announce that Stone Soup is partnering with  Society of Young Inklings in our very first nonfiction contest and that, in 2020, we will begin to publish all nonfiction under its very own label in the magazine. But what makes this contest extra special is our partnership with Society of Young Inklings (SYI): we are very excited to share that their team of professional writers has designed a mentorship experience for both the youth and the educators who take part in this contest. To start, SYI invites you to stretch your ideas and elevate the impact of your narrative using the games and activities provided in their quick video series: Spill Some Ink with Stone Soup.  Finally, take advantage of SYI’s Tips and Tricks for Revision cheat sheet, which guides writers through specific strategies to bring their narratives even more vividly to life. You can stay in the loop as they add material to further help write and revise your piece by RSVP’ing to their email updates here. Finally, after submission, the first 150 submitters will receive a personalized note from SYI. These notes will highlight a strength in your piece and offer guidance about how to build on that strength in future writing. We are so excited to be partnering with such a wonderful organization and thrilled to be able to offer personalized feedback to many of our writers! Contest Details For this contest, we are looking for excellent, innovative, moving, playful personal essays, or mini-memoirs. We want to hear about any of the biggest moments in your life—the scariest, the saddest, the happiest ones—as well as about some of the smallest—your walk to school or a regular Saturday at home with your brother. Make us laugh! Make us cry! Make us feel like we know you! Length: There is no minimum length. The maximum length is 10,000 words. Deadline: December 15, 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time). Entry fee: $4 per personal narrative. You may submit as many narrative essays as you would like to the contest, but each must be submitted as a new entry. Other specifications: Please make sure there is no identifying material on the .doc or .pdf you upload: your name should not appear on any of these materials. We will have your information through Submittable. Age limit: The contest is open to writers aged 13 or younger, or those who are still in U.S. eighth grade or its equivalent. To enter: All entries should be submitted here, via our Submittable site. We will not consider entries sent via email. Results  We will select and announce three winners, as well as a handful of honorable mentions, by the end of January 2020. We will publish all three placing entries in a 2020 issue of Stone Soup.

First Place Three Days Till EOC by Abhimanyu Sukhdial, 11 (Novel) Second Place The Golden Elephant by Analise Braddock, 8 (Poetry) Searching for Bow and Arrows by Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, 11 (Poetry) Third Place Elana by Hannah Nami Gajcowski, 9 (Novel) Honorable Mentions Leather Journal, Abhainn Bajus, 14 (Poetry) The Hidden Key, Peri Gordon, 9 (Novel) Frozen Nocturne, Sabrina Guo, 13  (Poetry) The Demisers, Zoe Keith, 11 (Novel) Last Birthday Boy, Olivia Ladell, 13 (Novel) Family of Spies, Micah Lim, 10 (Novel) Escape the War, Priyanka Nambiar, 13 (Novel) A Brief Encounter with Chaos, Anyi Sharma, 11 (Stories) We are excited to announce the winners of Stone Soup’s first annual book contest, and we can’t wait to share their work with you in 2020.  Although we are only able to give official recognition to a handful of writers, all of us were blown away by the care and effort put into these manuscripts. Writing a book takes time, patience, and dedication, and these writers proved to us that they have these qualities in spades. Once again, as with previous contests, we were moved by how many of these manuscripts dealt with climate change in one way or another. Our winning novel by Abhimanyu Sukhdial, Three Days Till EOC, takes a powerful, creative approach to this topic, as does Analise Braddock in many of her poems in her collection. The Golden Elephant. Meanwhile, in her poetry collection, Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer explores themes of historical and political loss alongside the enduring beauty and solace found in nature. Finally, in Elana, Hannah Nami Gajcowski takes us on a mad, magical adventure through an alternate universe. All of the books will be forthcoming in 2020. We can’t wait for you to read them!   

Stone Soup is seeking submissions for a book contest from writers aged 14 and younger. The winning manuscript will be published by Children’s Art Foundation–Stone Soup Inc. as a standalone book (see the other awards below). The contest is open to entrants around the world, writing in the English language, and accepts manuscripts in multiple genres, topics and forms: you may submit a novel, a collection of poetry or short stories, a memoir, or other prose. As always, we are looking for excellent, innovative, unusual, powerful writing. As long as it meets the minimum length detailed below, it qualifies for submission. You have the summer to work on your book. We can’t wait to read it! Contest Details Length: For prose (fiction or memoir) submissions, the minimum length is 4000 words. For poetry submissions, the minimum length is 30 pages. There is no maximum word or page limit. Deadline: August 21, 11:59 p.m. (Pacific time). (deadline extended by 7 days on August 2) Entry fee: $15 per manuscript. Results: We will select three winners, all of which will be published in various forms, and made available for sale on Amazon, in the Stone Soup store, via our distributors, and advertised along with the rest of our books to libraries and other vendors. Prizes and Publication: First place: Manuscript published in both print and ebook forms. Second place: Manuscript serialized (i.e. published in sections over several months) in print in Stone Soup Magazine, and published in its entirety as an ebook. Third place: Manuscript published as an ebook. Publication: Winning entries will be published in the form(s) described above, in early 2020. Age limit: The contest is open to authors aged 14 and younger. If you recently turned 15 (within 3 months of the deadline) and wrote your book when you were 14, we will accept your submission. To enter: All entries should be submitted via our Submittable site.