Teen writers wanted for library fiction contest
North Central Washington Libraries, which includes the Quincy library shown here as well as branches in Moses Lake, Mattawa, Othello, Ephrata and other nearby cities, is accepting entries for its annual Teen Short Fiction Competition.
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WENATCHEE — North Central Washington Libraries is accepting submissions for the 2025 Teen Short Fiction Competition. NCW Libraries oversees the operation of libraries in and near Grant County, among others.
Entries need to be 2,000 words or shorter and the teen’s original, unpublished work, according to NCW Libraries’ website, but other than that the field is pretty wide open, said NCW Libraries Teen Services Coordinator Jessica Lynch.
“It could be a variety of genres,” Lynch said. “It ranges from complete short stories to the first chapter of what will become a longer work, but they've kind of encapsulated it as a shorter piece … We've had stories where it's from the perspective of an animal. We've had stories where it's a murder mystery. It really can be whatever they want to pursue.”
The contest is open to students, including private, home-schooled, and Running Start students, in ninth through 12th grade in Grant, Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan and Ferry counties. The last winner from Grant County was in 2022 when then-sophomore Bridget Jones from Quincy High School received an honorable mention for her story “A Letter for the End of the World.”
The contest is co-sponsored by Write on the Water, a Wenatchee-based organization formed in 2005 to foster connections among writers as well as connecting them with learning and publishing opportunities, according to its website.
One regulation that wouldn’t have been necessary a few years ago is that no artificial intelligence generative tools like ChatGPT may be used in the writing. So far nobody has tried to pass off AI writing as their own, Lynch said, possibly because the library has always been clear about that restriction.
“What the judges are looking for is something creative with the author's voice,” Lynch said. (They’re) looking for development of a character, or a plot or a theme, and trying to experiment with their creative expression. But of course, clarity is helpful too, so we can understand what they're trying to convey.”
The submission deadline is April 11. Stories can be submitted at https://bit.ly/NCWTeenFiction25. More information is available at www.ncwlibraries.org.