Contest Documents:

• Guidelines for Teachers & Students
• Online Entry Form
• Deadline: January 13, 2026
• Teachers must be members of OKCTE.
  

Contest Submission Categories

All submissions should be geared for a young adult audience (ages 12-18)

Flash Fiction – 500 - 1000 words
A piece of flash fiction is a short narrative that centers on a single theme or climactic event and develops a single character as they experience a central conflict.

Informational – 750 or fewer words
Informational writing focuses on a problem and a solution, a comparison or a contrast, a cause and effect, a how-to, or provides a critical analysis. The goal of informational writing is to educate readers or to offer a deeper understanding of a single topic. Submissions must cite all sources parenthetically and include a Works Cited page.

Personal Narrative – 750 or fewer words
A personal narrative is a first-person nonfiction narrative that focuses on a single incident or conflict that occurred in the writer's life during a specific time and place. Personal narratives offer a new understanding of a fond or difficult remembrance.

Descriptive Paragraph – 250 or fewer words
A descriptive paragraph is a detail-rich account of a single topic that has a specific and concrete focus — the sound of a waterfall, the stench of a skunk's spray, a strong emotion, or a vivid memory. Sensory details and literary devices should feature prominently in descriptive paragraphs.

Poem – 40 or fewer lines
A poem is an intense, precise, and compressed use of language that tells a story, presents an image, or evokes an emotion. As Modernist poet Ezra Pound wrote, aspiring poets should “use no superfluous word, no adjective, which does not reveal something.” Every word in a poem serves a functional purpose and relies on
the other words in the poem to generate meaning.

Literary/Critical Analysis – 750 or fewer words
A literary critical analysis explains a work of fiction, poetry or drama by means of interpretations. The goal of a literary analysis is to broaden and deepen the understanding of a literary work. Interpretations include patterns in literary elements,  such as plot, point of view, character, setting, symbols, tone, and style, within the literature that support the idea. The evidence is found mainly from the literary work discussed; however, secondary sources (published critical analyses) may support the point of view as well. LitCrit analysis is judged on the author’s argument, evidence (use, strength, and clarity), and contribution to the literary work’s conversation.

Cover Artwork – A single 8.5 x 11” page
Artistic submissions may use any medium (including sculpture, chalk pastels, charcoal, colored pencils, crayons, graphite, ink, markers, oil pastels, watercolors, pens, and original photography), but all artwork must be submitted as either PNG or JPEG files and fit on one 8.5 x 11 page.