7th Annual Red Wheelbarrow Children's Writing Contest

Have we got great news! Sally Gardner has just agreed to be the Master of Ceremonies at the Celebration of Writing and Writers Ceremony of the Red Wheelbarrow Children's Writing Contest on the 5th of June 2009. We are super excited with this news as Sally Gardner is one of RWB's favorite authors. She's written a number of great children's books and among our favorites are I, Coriander and The Red Necklace. Her new book will be coming out in April and we are very much looking forward to it! If you haven't had the chance to read her work yet, I strongly suggest you do!

Now for the contest, the rules have been slightly modified so please read carefully as only those stories fully complying with the rules will be accepted. Deadline for submission is the 30th of April 2009

GUIDELINES

1) WHO: All English writers, from Kindergarten/Grande Section through Grade 12/Terminale, in the greater Paris area.

2) WHAT: ONE original story per student written after September 1, 2008. All stories must:

· Have a clear beginning, middle, and end;
· Be submitted under one of two categories: 1) independent project or 2) school-based project. This tells us whether you wrote your
story on your own or had the help of teachers and friends. Please, be honest. Only one submission per student will be accepted.
· Respect the following word limit: 750 words, grades K-5 / GS-CM2
1000 words, grades 6-12 / college-lycée
Longer pieces will not be accepted.
· Be typed, using Times New Roman or Arial fonts, 12 pt, and double-spaced, with 5 cm. margins*
No handwritten work, illustrations or color print, please.

3) WHEN: The deadline for story submissions is 30 April 2009 at midnight. No late submissions will be accepted.

4) WHERE: Submit your stories only by e-mail attachment to rwcontest@gmail.com, using the following directions:

5) HOW:
· In the SUBJECT line of your e-mail, write "Red Wheelbarrow Contest Entry", and your grade.
Example, Subject: Red Wheelbarrow Contest Entry, 3rd Grade (or CM1).
· In the BODY of your e-mail, tell us about you and your story, using the form provided on page 2 of these guidelines.
COPY and PASTE this form onto the e-mail page and fill it in. We cannot accept any stories without this information.
· ATTACH your story to the e-mail as a WORD file, using the story title ONLY as the document name.

IMPORTANT ! PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT!

DO NOT include your name anywhere in the story attachment, neither in the story text NOR in the document name. Your document name should be your story TITLE only. We must receive an anonymous copy in order to accept it. When we receive your story submission, we will send you an e-mail telling you so. If you do not receive this e-mail confirmation within 24
hours, we may not have received your story. So please let us know!

Please note also that after all entries are submitted, the school must send a representative to the Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore (22 rue St. Paul 75004) with a list of all participating stories. This way we can validate that you have participated!

6) Do not use obscene language – The winning stories will be published and read by people of all ages.

7) Join us for the Celebration of Writing and Writers with Sally Gardner as Master of Ceremonies to be held at L’Ecole Massillon, on Friday June 5, 2009. Come enjoy a book-making
atelier, workshops, readings, and books, books, books. All participating writers will be honored! The top five writers in each category and grade will be announced (they will be notified in advance so they’ll be sure to come). We strongly encourage all authors to attend!

9) The Red Wheelbarrow Creative Writing Contest is absolutely free-of-charge to enter.

10) Any Questions? Please contact: June or Sarah, rwcontest@gmail.com, or come by the bookstore!

Here is the Info sheet you need to fill up:

7th ANNUAL RED WHEELBARROW CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST
COVER PAGE

Please COPY and PASTE the cover page below into the BODY of your submission e-mail and FILL IN your personal information so that we can clearly identify your story. ATTACH your story to the message as a document with the TITLE of your story as the file
name. DO NOT TYPE your name anywhere on the story.

We MUST RECEIVE an anonymous copy of your story.
- Story Title: ____________________________________________________
- Word Count (total number of words in the story): ________
- Number of Pages: ________
- Author’s Last Name: ______________________________________
- Author’s First Name: ______________________________________
- Author’s submission category: ____ Independent Project
____ School-based Project
- Author’s School/Program: _______________________________
- English teacher’s name (if applicable): _______________________________
- Grade/Year in which author is enrolled: _______________________________
- Author’s age on 10 April 2009: _______________________________
- Author’s address (street, postal code, city): _______________________________
_______________________________
- Author’s Email Address: _______________________________

Please type YES or NO in response to the following:
Authors:
On your honor, did you imagine and write this story yourself? _____
On your honor, was this story imagined and written after 1 September 2008? _____
Parents:
Do you give permission for your child’s story to be used to promote the Red Wheelbarrow Writing Contest? _____
Do you give permission for the author’s photo to be used to promote this contest? _____


Eh voila...ready set go!!!