Submission Deadline: March 2, 2025 11:45pm
Awards Ceremony: April 17, 2025
Students in grades 9-12 from the Northeast Metro Area are invited to submit their original creative writing to the annual Vision & verse hosted by White Bear Center for the Arts.
Submission Guidelines
- Entries will be judged per category.
- Submissions must be your own, original work. Plagiarism will result in disqualification.
- Likewise, all research included in your submissions must be properly cited.
- Profanity is not permitted and will result in disqualification.
- All entries must be submitted electronically, in one form. Each entry must include a title, category, and an attachment in Microsoft Word or PDF format. Spoken Word entries should be attached as an mp4 file or YouTube link.
- Do not include your name or any other identifying information in your entries.
- You may submit writing for multiple contest categories (see guidelines below)
Contest Categories
Poetry - Express your feelings!
Create a poem to express emotion and feeling with sensory description, imagery, and metaphor.
- Your poem can also explore new ideas or express your ideals.
- Poetry often uses powerful words, short phrases, and broken sentences.
- Both rhyming, metered poetry and free verse poetry are welcome.
- Types of poetry include haiku, song lyrics, sonnets, limericks, and more!
Up to 3 poems may be submitted per student
No word requirement
Short Story - Use your imagination!
Write an original, creative, fictional story which uses setting, plot, and narration.
- Setting appeals to the senses and transports your reader into the scene. Use descriptive, concrete language to create vivid imagery and bring readers into the world of your story.
- Plot is the series of events or character decisions that bring your story from beginning or end. Plot is commonly developed through rising action, conflict, and resolution. Stories usually narrate a change over time to reach a conclusion.
- Narration is how you tell your story. Your story may be told from first-, second-, or third-person perspective and may include inner monologue, dialogue, stream-of-consciousness thoughts, etc.
- Fiction sometimes falls into a genre such as science fiction, fantasy, or mystery, but can also depict more commonplace circumstances. You are welcome to submit a piece in any genre!
One short story may be submitted per student
1500-word minimum, 2500-word maximum (note word count at the end)
Persuasive Essay - Stand for something!
Make an argument about the topic of your choice. In your essay you can advocate for a cause, attempt to change the reader’s mind or behavior, or assess the value of a policy, idea, or product. Please support your position with factual, research-based information and proper citations.
Your paper can vary in length, but the 5-paragraph format is a common and useful format for persuasive essays.
- Paragraph 1: Introduce your argument with a thesis statement that supports your position.
- Paragraphs 2 - 4: Introduce opposing points of view and include evidence for these opposing points. Refute the opposing points of view and support these arguments with new evidence.
- Paragraph 5: Summarize your thesis and reiterate your support for your position.
One persuasive essay may be submitted per student
500-word minimum, 1500-word maximum (note word count at the end)
Creative Nonfiction - Tell a true story!
Tell a thoughtful story about someone or something real. You can also meditate on real events. Creative nonfiction comes in many forms.
- Personal essays describe something that has happened in your life.
- Journalism utilizes interviews, research, and facts to tell the story of current events and happenings in the world.
- Biographies tell someone’s life story, often someone famous or a figure from history.
- Observational essays bring a meaningful place or event to life on the page.
- Profile essays describe a person and their impact. This can be someone from your life or community.
One creative nonfiction work may be submitted per student
500-word minimum, 1500-word maximum (note word count at the end)
Spoken Word - Use Your Voice!
Perform an original spoken word piece and record a video of your performance.
What differentiates spoken word from other forms of poetry? Spoken word is written with the intention of being performed.
- Spoken word artists pay attention to rhythm, body movement, pauses, and facial expression when performing their pieces.
- Spoken word poetry has no rules in terms of meter, length, or rhyme scheme. But it often uses literary techniques like rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and more.
- The performance style can vary depending on the artist, but it often draws from theater, standup comedy, jazz, hip-hop, and oral storytelling.
- Spoken word can be about any topic! But it often comments on social issues, or shares the speaker's story or perspective.
Up to 3 poems may be submitted per student. Each poem should be recorded separately, and should be no more than 4 minutes in length.
Prompts (Optional)
If you need inspiration, we have included some optional prompts for you to work with, in any genre!
- Write about a piece of art that speaks to you. What does the artwork make you think or feel? What does it remind you of? The artwork could depict a scene in your short story, or perhaps it will inspire poetry.
- Delve deeper into a topic you're interested in at school. This could be a persuasive essay about a new scientific discovery, or a fiction story based on a historical time period you've learned about.
- Write about an artist. You could include an artist as a character in your short story. Perhaps create a poem about, or from the perspective of, an artist. You could also write a creative nonfiction piece about the life of an artist or a persuasive essay about the value of an artist or artwork you love. Perform a piece about an artist who has meant something to you.
- Write about a change in perspective. This can be a nonfiction piece about how you have changed your mind or beliefs, or it can be a story in which a character’s perspective is shifted. You can perform a poem or story or narrate your shift in perspective as part of a persuasive essay and build ethos, pathos, and logos in the process.