Disclaimer: This definitely doesn't work for every one of my learners. Some of them, the component of a competition actually disengages them. But for most of my learners, a competition incentivizes them.
If you are in Arkansas, there are several competitions that my Creative Writing class participates in. The Ozark Writer’s League Youth Writing Competition, THEA Creative Writing Competition, and the Narrative High School Writing Contest are a few of the competitions we have submitted to.
Reasons I like competitions:
- Authentic Audience
One of the tenets of PBL is to have an authentic audience whenever possible. For creative writers, submitting to competitions, paying attention to rules and following them, writing to a prompt and staying within the requirements are all actions of real, published writers.
- Real Stakes
Whether it is just a certificate that states “You’re Awesome and Won This Competition!” or a potential scholarship, learners are intrigued by the potential of winning. I always hype up being in competitions and celebrate learners for their engagement more than I celebrate their winning or losing. I tell them that I was an adult before I ever submitted a piece to a competition, so they are ahead of the curve.
- Sense of Success
Do they all win? No. Of course not. Do they all celebrate when they meet the deadline or when they give feedback to each other? Yes. These competitions, whether they win or lose, set our class up for community that mimics the creative writing communities they will need to find if they choose to keep writing.
Do you have your learners participate in competitions? Any competitions you know of that my learners should submit to? I would love to hear about them.
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