2008 Guidelines

Submission Dates: July 1 through August 1, 2008!

Theme

Students must submit a photo with one of the following fruits of the spirit as their theme:

Category 1: Gentleness
Category 2: Faithfulness
Category 3: Self-Control

We try to choose themes that will leave a lot of room for students’ imagination and interpretation. We want students to come up with their own ideas of what best illustrates the given theme without us dictating the response.

Basically, what does the theme make you think of? Then take it from there and be creative. We hope that students will come up with many imaginative ideas to fit the theme. Our judges love it when a student comes up with something they had not thought of before.

Who

Contest prizes and themes are determined based on the student’s age. If a student falls into Category 1 in age, then he or she must do the Category 1 theme and will be awarded Category 1 prizes. The same applies for categories 2 and 3.

Category 1: Homeschoolers ages 7 to 11 as of July 1, 2008.
Category 2: Homeschoolers ages 12 to 15 as of July 1, 2008.
Category 3: Homeschoolers ages 16 to 19 as of July 1, 2008.

For the purposes of this contest an eligible student must have been home educated in the past year and received a majority of his or her education in the past year through home education.

For entry form and rules, visit the following website:

http://www.hslda.org/Contests/Photo/2008/2007rules.asp

This year, HSLDA is announcing all four student contests at once. Although submissions for each contest will only be accepted during the dates specified on our website, students can now spend more time working on their entries.

The first contest in line will be essay, with submission deadlines of October 1 through November 1, 2007. But students can start working on their essays right away!

Please visit our contest web page at www.hslda.org/contests for contest deadlines, rules, and more information. You will also find that the pages have been revamped with a whole new look to make these
contests even more fun and educational (including suggestions from past judges on how to give your piece that final tweak that could make the difference in the final round).

Because students will now have a longer period to work on their entries, we hope they can spend more of that time studying the art/writing form showcased by each contest. Additionally, we have chosen themes that we hope will be thought-provoking and provide room for further study.

These contests could be a great launching pad for unit studies by groups or individual families. Perhaps you can spend a month studying different American artists and practicing shadowing and lighting
techniques, and then use the contest entry as a final project for students to use what they have learned.

All four of our contests are now divided into three age categories. Please encourage younger children to participate--their creativity is often inspired by challenges such as this.

We are excited to see your response to the new themes, and we hope you enjoy exploring them as well!

The proceeds from this contest go to the Home School Foundation's Special Needs Children's Fund.

Sincerely,

Mike Smith
HSLDA President

The deadline for both of these contests is April 15, 2007. These are great contests for the photographers and poets in your families. The prizes are nice as well, and the winner gets published in HSLDA's magazine.

Information on the Photo Contest is here:

http://www.hslda.org/contests/Photo/default.asp

Information on the Poetry Contest is here:

http://www.hslda.org/contests/Poetry/2007/default.asp

These are great contests and are only open to homeschoolers. Check it out!

Sylvan Dell Publishing is pleased to announce our first Picture Book Writing Competition for Homeschooled Students. Publishers Lee and Donna German are former homeschooling parents, and they are excited to offer this opportunity and to give back to homeschooled students across the country.

Sylvan Dell Publishing’s Picture Book Writing Competition offers homeschooled students working at a high school level a unique opportunity to explore the world of children’s literature and try their hand at writing a picture book. The winning author will receive a $200 prize and the manuscript will be seriously considered for publication.

For more information on the competition, please visit our Picture Book Writing Competition page.

Hat tip to The Front Porch.

In honor of National Poetry Month, Charlesbridge invites students in fourth through sixth grade to take a chance and enter a poem into the I Must Go Down to the Beach Again poetry contest.

Put your own twist on a Shakespearean sonnet, or write an original funny haiku. Winning poems will capture the imagination and tickle the funny bone. For inspiration, read I Must Go Down to the Beach Again (and Other Poems), by Karen Jo Shapiro and illustrated by Judy Love.

The first-place winner receives a $100 gift certificate to their local independent bookstore, a subscription to Stone Soup Magazine, and an autographed copy of I Must Go Down to the Beach Again.

Second- and third-place winners receive a subscription to Stone Soup Magazine and an autographed copy of I Must Go Down to the Beach Again.

All entries will be published on Charlesbridge’s website.

Poems can be any length, typed or hand-written (legibility counts). Participants must be fourth through sixth grade elementary students. Deadline for submission is April 30, 2007. Winners will be notified by May 15, 2007.

Email your submissions to trademarketing@charlesbridge.com, or send them by snail mail to:

Charlesbridge Publishing
I Must Go Down to the Beach Again Poetry Contest
85 Main Street, Watertown, MA 02472

No purchase necessary. Contest is open to students in the United States only.  Submissions will not be returned. Submission authorizes Charlesbridge to reprint the poem in part or whole. Charlesbridge employees and their families are not eligible for participation.

Star Poets is a statewide poetry competition launched in 2000 by Starbucks Hawaii and Windward Community College. The contest is open to public and private school students in grades 3-12. Students are invited to submit poems on any topic.

In 2005, Starbucks Hawaii received over 3,000 poems and will be awarding over $8,000 in prizes at the May 15th award ceremony and poetry reading. This year’s celebration will be held at Windward Community College’s Paliku Theatre in Kaneohe. The day will include workshops open to K-12 grade students, parents and teachers. Also new this year will be a poetry resource guide filled with fun ideas for teaching poetry being made available to all school libraries and to workshop attendees. For more information, contact Libby Young at (808) 235-7396 or libby@hawaii.edu

According to Esther, this contest is open to homeschoolers as well. To enter, go to this website:

http://www.wcc.hawaii.edu/poets/Default.htm

Download the entry form, complete, and send it in with your child's poem. The entry deadline is January 12, 2007.