While the Corona virus pandemic spreads and schools close across the world, Absolute Author Publishing House is Conducting a Writing Contest for School Children to Become Published Authors
According to Dr. Carol Michaels, co-owner of AAPH, the contest grew from her deep commitment to celebrating young authors as a way to allow our youth affected by school closures and quarantines to express themselves and to become a published author. “I recognize the need to keep our children engaged in activities during this critical time. What better way than to provide them the opportunity to write and create art to express themselves and then to become published authors. We want to encourage young writers and artists to express themselves and use their creativity.”
“The Absolute Young Author Contest” is open to any child in grades Pre-K – 12 grades in public and private schools and to homeschoolers. “We don’t want to exclude any child and want to encourage their writing and expression," says Dr. Carol Michaels. "We are looking for young writers you love to write poetry, short stories and novels. The difference between our contest and others is that we will not only be offering a cash prize to the winners in each category but also, all runner up and honorable mentions in each category will have their submission published in a book. The Master Absolute Young Author who submits either a collection of stories or poems or a completed novel, will have their book published by us."
A panel of distinguished judges, led by bestselling author Dr. Melissa Caudle, will decide which submissions will be included in the book. There is no fee for any young author to enter and prizes include gift certificates from Barnes & Noble, publication in a book, and a frameable certificate to the winners. Most notably, the Master Absolute Young Author who submits the winning collection of either short stories, poetry, or a novel, will have their book published by AAPH along with free professional editing, cover design, ISBN by AAPH, a flipbook trailer, and a feature in their blog.
To be eligible entrants must:
- Between the ages of 4-17 in Pre-K – twelfth grade in public, private, or home-schooled
- Entrants can submit only once in each category, but will have to complete a different submission form for multiple submissions.
- Story submissions can be both fiction and nonfiction
- All submissions must be original and not copyrighted or included in another book.
Prizes will be awarded according to age range and categories of submission.
AGE RANGES WILL COMPETE ACCORDINGLY
- Pre-K through Fifth Grade
- Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
- Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
CATEGORIES
Novel or Collection of Short Stories, or Poems – For young authors who have a complete work of short stories (10 or more), poems (15 or more), or a novel, any genre, over 30,000 words.
Short Story – Fiction or Nonfiction - For young authors with one story not to exceed 3,000 words. There is no minimum word requirement.
Essays – Any topic - For young authors with one story not to exceed 1,500 words. There is no minimum word requirement.
Poetry – Any Style (No maximum or minimum word requirement.
PRIZE FOR COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES, POETRY, OR NOVEL
Master Absolute Young Author – The winner of this category will compete with each other and will maintain all copyright and distribution rights as well as one-on-one consultation to help distribute book on KDP. Author, through their parent(s) will keep all royalties according to KDP terms. This is a value of services totaling $2500 from AAPH. The winner in this category will not eligible for Grand Prize for the Master Absolute Young Author as this is a special category. The prizes for this category include:
- The publication of the book by Absolute Author Publishing House.
- Professional editing of manuscript.
- Formatting of manuscript (both eBook and paperback).
- ISBN assigned by AAPH.
- Cover design.
- Flipbook trailer.
- 50 mock up ads.
- Featured on our blog.
PRIZES FOR A SHORT STORY, POEM, OR ESSAY - PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED BY AGE GROUP
Grand Prize
- $100 gift certificate from Barnes & Noble – Overall winner of "Best of the Best" from all short stories, essays, and poetry NO MATTER THE AGE GROUP. Only one winner from all age groups will be given to the best of the best from all submissions.
- A frameable certificate sent to the winner along with a feature blog post.
First Place in Each Age Group - Three Winners to be Announced
One winner from each grade group will be selected and each receive the following prizes
- Work will be professionally edited.
- Included in a special collection book published by AAPH, title TBD.
- $30 gift certificate from Barnes & Noble.
- A frameable certificate sent to the winners.
- Announcement in a feature blog post that will inlcude the other winners.
Second Place in Each Age Group
One winner from each grade group will be selected and each receive the following prizes:
- Work will be professionally edited.
- Included in a special collection book published by AAPH, title TBD.
- $20 gift certificate from Barnes & Noble.
- A frameable certificate sent to the winners.
- Announcement in a feature blog post that will inlcude the other winners.
Third Place in Each Age Group
One winner from each grade group will be selected and each receive the following prizes:
- Work will be professionally edited.
- Included in a special collection book published by AAPH, title TBD.
- $10 gift certificate from Barnes & Noble.
- A frameable certificate sent to the winners.
- Announcement in a feature blog post that will inlcude the other winners.
Honorable Mention in Each Age Group
Multiple winners from each grade group will be selected and each receive the following prizes:
- Work will be professionally edited.
- Included in a special collection book published by AAPH, title TBD.
- A frameable certificate sent to the winners.
- Announcement in a feature blog post that will inlcude the other winners.
NOTE: Part of the proceeds from the publication of all winning entries into one book will be used to send the book to libraries in third world countries to help promote reading and writing of young authors. The number of books sent, will depend on the proceeds from the sale of this book.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
You must submit your child's work in a Word and PDF document formatted correctly with the follow information/
- Title Page with the title of the submission
- Name of Author
- Grade Level
- City, State, and Country
See sample below.
The next page or pages should be the work and must me the original work of the author.
- No plagiarism or copyright material accepted. Any entrant who submits copyright material or plagiarizes will be automatically disqualified.
- Please note that lined pages may be included for the stories and handwritten, but must be submitted in either a word document or PDF. Original papers will not be accepted and will not be returned. However, any illustrations, which are encouraged, must be on unlined paper.
- If handwritten, text must be written legibly and submitted in a PDF format.
- Error free spelling, and grammar.
- Any artwork or illustration must be original art from the student and digitally submitted. If a copyright image is submitted, the entrant will be disqualified.
- If a nonfiction work is based on research, a list of sources must be included.
Prior to submission entrants are allowed to get feedback from their peers, teachers, and parents.
HOW TO ENTER CONTEST
To enter the contest visit The Absolute Young Author Contest.
AAPH reserves the right to cancel the contest or to extend the entry deadline if not enough submissions are received. We sincerely hope this is not the case.
