Creative Writing Contest for Students

I just received this notice from our Library Director inviting us to pass it on to any budding writers. Do you dream of being a writer? Go ahead. You can do it!

Creative Writing Scholarship Competition

The creative writing program is seeking young writers to participate in the 2012 Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Competition. The winner of the competition will receive up to $30,000 to attend Interlochen Arts Academy as a creative writing major and their work will be included in the 2014 Interlochen Review.

“This contest is a wonderful way to put the creative writing program in the spotlight, and it always attracts students who show tremendous passion and potential,” said Mika Perrine, director of the creative writing program at Interlochen Center for the Arts. “We hope that the friends and alumni of Interlochen can help us identify and reach out to talented young writers across the country and around the world with this opportunity.”

The previous six winners of this creative writing contest have compiled an impressive record of accomplishments and honors. As a group, the past recipients of this scholarship have earned awards including Presidential Scholar in the Arts, the Norman Mailer Award for High School Fiction, and inclusion in a Scholastic anthology of the “Best Teen Writing.” Phoebe Rusch, the 2006 scholarship winner, even saw one of her plays come to life in a full-scale production at the Kennedy Center - when she was just 17.

The contest will accept submissions and entries for two months, starting on October 15 and ending with the final deadline on December 15, 2012. The contest is open to students who are enrolled in grades 8-11 during the 2012-13 academic year. There is no entry fee and all entries can be submitted online. For complete details or to submit an entry, visit the contest page on the Interlochen website.

The Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Competition bears the name of a remarkable philanthropist and longtime Interlochen supporter. Ball attended Interlochen Arts Camp in 1941 and later served on the Alumni Board and the Board of Trustees. She passed away in 2003. A 2007 commitment from the Edmund E. and Virginia B. Ball Foundation endowed this biennial creative writing competition that provides substantial scholarship support for a creative writing major who demonstrates great potential.




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*Sandra Besselsen*
Bonisteel Library Director
Interlochen Center for the Arts
www.interlochen.org
besselsens@interlochen.org