Each year, Oakdale High School is one of the many high schools in Maryland open to the Maryland Literacy Association Young Authors’ Contest (YAC) which is open to all grades in high school and gives writers the chance to compete at school, county or state level.

The steps into submitting an entry include joining the YAC Schoology group, then writing either a short story or poem. The poem has to be between 25 to 300 words, but the short story has to be between 800 to 2,000 words. Both the poem and short story have to be school appropriate, written in 12 point Times New Roman or Arial, and submitted before the December 4 deadline. 

One of Oakdale High School librarians Renate Owen stated, “Everything comes through me then I pass it along to the judges that I organize, I pick a date [that] we all get together, I provide them with the rubrics required to look at. They make the judgments and read them through. Then we decide from there 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for school level.” After school level, the 1st place winner moves on to county level and if they win county level, they go to state level. 

The Young Authors’ Contest is enjoyable for all future writers and people that love to write. Last year’s County winner, Sophomore Ava Nelson expressed, “It’s a great opportunity to put yourself out there. Perfect for anyone who loves writing to get the chance to display their skills and also see the talent of peers around them.” 

Owen agreed and added, “I think we have a lot of students that like to write creatively. So I think that it is a great outlet to show their abilities and also to just put their stuff out there.”

The Young Authors’ Contest provides great opportunities for writers to showcase their talents. It also allows them to compete their work, if they win they can put it on their resume, college or scholarship applications. If you enjoy writing for fun, you should try the Young Authors’ Contest!

Any questions on the Young Authors’ Contest contact Renate Owen on Schoology or if you would like to join. The code for the Schoology group is VJR8-M77T-99S8J.