Young Authors' Project
2023-2024
Young Authors' Project
The Young Author’s project is a North Carolina Reading Assocaition writing competition to provide students in grades K-12 an opportunity to have their writing and/or art published in a local and state anthology of student work.
Bull City Literacy Council (BCLC) is pleased to announce that all Durham students have the opportunity to participate in the NCRA Young Authors’ Project this year. This year’s theme is, “Reflections: Celebrating the Me I See”
Questions?
Contact BCLC President, Heidi Perez at heidi_perez@dpsnc.net.
Sincerely,
Bull City Literacy Council Young Authors’ Program
Why should you consider participating in Young Authors' Writing Project with your class?
The Young Authors' Writing Project is an engaging way to encourage writing across all grade levels.
Students who submit writing have the potential to win at 3 different levels: School, County, and State.
Young authors are encouraged to write about their personal story past, present, and future.
Authors may write in their first language and submit along with an English translation
Authors may write prose, poetry, fiction, or nonfiction.
Students may also submit an original design or art work for the cover of the 2023 NCRA Young Authors' Anthology.
NCRA has lots of support on its Young Authors' Page
Bull City Literacy Council 2023-2024 Young Authors' Project Guidelines
Open to all K-12 Durham students and community members
Check out Young Authors Writing & Art Resources to help get started!
ALL DPS schools can submit up to 10 writing entries and 5 art entries.
Schools that have current or new Bull City Literacy Council Members may send an additional 10 student entries for each BCLC member on staff. Membership must be paid and active by November 30th, 2023.
Join BCLC for $25. BCLC membership includes NCRA membership.
The deadline to submit entries from a school is Thursday, November 30th, 2023
Each student may submit one writing entry AND one art entry.
Forever Young Writing Entries (18 and over) can be submitted by any BCLC member
How to submit entries
Schools should create a Google folder named school name 23-24 BCLC YA. That school folder must contain the following:
School Submission Form must be in the school folder and indicate the school name, title/student name for each entry submitted, and name/email of school personnel BCLC member.
Student entries These must be submitted as a google doc named with the student's first and last name and grade (EX Jules Wolffe 6). Editing rights should be given bullcitylit@gmail by the Nov. 30th deadline.
Use 10 point, “Times New Roman” font, single spaced, for the body of the piece.
Include an original title, typed in bold, 12 point type, with only the first letter of each major word in the title capitalized.
Include author information after the body of the piece. Skip two lines and then center the following information in 10 point:
Author’s First and Last Name, Grade ______ (numerical) or Forever Young
Teacher: Name (Teacher’s First and Last Name)
School Name
Local Council Name
Student Entry Permission Form must accompany each student entry in the school folder.
North Carolina Reading Association
Young Authors' Rules and Guidelines
GUIDELINES
All entries must be original creations.
Only 1 writing entry per author may be submitted.
Only 1 art/cover design entry per student may be submitted.
Students may only submit one piece of writing and one piece of art, total.
All entries must have participated in a local level judging before being submitted for the state judging.
All entries to the state judging level must be submitted by a member of NCRA by December 1, 2022.
LENGTH OF ENTRIES
It is easy to check word count by using the Tools button in Google Docs. Be sure to check all entries to ensure they meet entry requirements BEFORE submitting for state judging. Any entry submitted to the state level will be disqualified if it exceeds the word limit (by more than 5 words).
Grades Pre-K-1 Entries should have no more than 200 words.
Grades 2-5 Entries should have no more than 300 words.
Grades 6-8 Entries should have no more than 400 words.
Grades 9-12 Entries should have no more than 500 words.
Forever Young Entries should have no more than 500 words.
ART ENTRIES:
Art work/designs must be original ideas and clearly connect with the theme.
All art is considered for publication in the Yong Authors' Annual Anthology, it must be a 2D creation OR able to be photographed clearly.
Art must be vertical top to bottom (portrait).
Guidelines for the Cover Art Design may be accessed on the NCRA website in the YA Google Drive Folder, Young Authors Art Design Criteria
All art entries, digital and physical must be accompanied by a Young Author’s Entry Form.
The scanned JPEG should be saved, uploaded, and named as follows: NumericalGradeLevel__LastNameFirstName_CouncilName/Initials
example: 02_RiveraStephanie_BRRC
The designs will be judged by the YA Committee who will select finalists.
The President may select the cover design or request a vote from the Executive Committee.
Each council may submit 10 art entries.
NUMBER OF ENTRIES FOR A LOCAL COUNCIL
In order to create a more equitable and balanced collection of Young Author entries from across the state, the YA Committee has revised the
A baseline of 40 entries is in place for all councils.
Entries allowed increase in increments of 5 based on membership levels.
This is based on the previous year’s membership total or this year’s membership figure as of November 1, 2022, whichever is greater.
COUNCIL CHOICE ENTRIES
Each council may choose two additional entries as Council Choices. These entries will add two (2) to the number of entries in the table to the right.
Council choice entries may be selected based on various criteria including student growth in writing, students with challenges due to language or disabilities etc.
These will bypass state judging, BUT will be read by at least two members of the EC. The content and language must be deemed appropriate If there is a question regarding publication of the council choice entry, the local YA chair will be contacted.
The Council Choice entries must be clearly marked (X) in the “Council Choice” column on the YA ENTRY SPREADSHEET located in each council’s entry folder
Forever Young Entries
Forever Young entries do not count toward the number of entries noted above.
Entries that EXCEED the maximum word count (500) will not be published.
Adult entries should first be judged at the local council level and will be judged at the state level as described above for all student entries.
Forever Young Authors must be members of NCRA.