Abe's writing

(Last Update: 20:57 PDT 11 June 2007 )

This page is to collect pointers to Abe's writing that we have put on the web (mainly for the benefit of relatives). It is also a convenient place to store pointers to various writing contests, none of which Abe has participated in yet, but which he might someday contribute to.

Abe's writing

Poetry:

The Stream May 2004

The Stream was Abe's first poem.

The Leaf May 2004

The Life of a Tree Dec 2004

The Life of a Tree was written and illustrated for his Grandmother Karplus as a Christmas present.

The SunSep 2005

Abe continued his practice of writing poems about natural phenomena.

Nonfiction:

Lego Lab R.A.T.S. application Feb 2005

San Juan diary Feb 2005

Book report on Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, written for 4th grade.

Drama:

Scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh Dec 2005

Abe wrote a play for "Sumeria Day" in his 4th grade class at Spring Hill School. The play is adapted from later chapters of Geraldine McCaughrean's Gilgamesh the Hero.

The Shotgun a radio play. May 2007

The fifth grade students had to perform radio plays for their history class on World War II. Abe's group had Abe write the play.

The Third-Story Bedroom June 2007

Abe wrote this 16-20-minute play as a response to an in-class writing prompt that consisted of a picture of a bird flying out of a wallpapered wall of birds. (Needless to say, he did not write it in class.)

Fiction:
Abe has written fiction, in both English and Spanish, but none has been typed up for the web yet.

Writing Contests

http://www.libraryofpoetry.com/about.html

Poems limited to 20 lines, no more than one poem every 6 months. Deadline April 30 of each year. One winner and one runner up is selected in each of four divisions (Division 1 - Grades 4-5, Division 2 - Grades 6-7, Division 3 - Grades 8-9, and Division 4 - Grades 10-12). Each winner and runner up of the Student Poetry Contest will receive a U.S. Savings Bond and Certificate of Achievement. A $500.00 U.S. Savings Bond Grand Prize will also be awarded to the writer who places first overall. No fees.

http://www.santacruzsistercities.org/FebruaryNewsletter.htm

Every year, people from Santa Cruz enter the Sestri Levante Hans Christian Andersen writing competition. (Sestri Levante is one of our five sister cities.) The contest is split into age groups and is for a short folk tale or fairy tale. Look for announcements in late December or early January in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and in the Parks and Rec Catalog, with a deadline in mid-February.

http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/cc/archives/05/4-26meeting/4-26rpt/pkfyi012.htm has the local results for the 2005 contest.

http://academicachieversca.nationprotect.net/writing_contest.html

Winners get medals or a trophy, plus a book for their school library, last deadline listed Dec 2004.

http://www.netaxs.com/~katz/contest.htm

The Kids Can Write "Name That Frog" contest begins September 1, 2005 and ends with a POSTMARK DEADLINE of April 25, 2006. Winning classes and individuals will receive an inscribed copy of the poetry collection, Looking for Jaguar and Other Rain Forest Poems written by Susan Katz and illustrated by Lee Christiansen.

http://www.haemibalgassi.com/contest.html

$20 prize for about 1/250 entrants. Not clear when next contest will be.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/kaa/

Kids are Authors contest. Grand prize: $2000 in Scholastic materials for school, plus 100 copies of winning book. Students must develop their entries in groups of three or more under the supervision of an adult who acts as the Project Coordinator. Entries must be postmarked by March 15, 2006 to be eligible for the 2006 Competition.

http://www.amazing-kids.org/contests.html

art contest ends 15 July 2005: winter holiday cards

short story contest coming in July.

http://www.smartwriters.com/index.2ts?page=contestsforkids

Occasional announcements of writing contests for kids. None current on 4 July 2005.

http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/content/contests.mspx

As of 4 July 2005, they have no writing contests, but do have a reading contest for July and an art contest in the fall.

http://www.studentessaycontest.com/indexessay.html

3 essay and poetry contests: grades 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. $50 savings bond as prize for top ten essays in each division. Deadlines three times a year. No entry fees---they appear to make their money by selling student authors anthologies containing their essays. About half the submitted essays are published. (21-line limit on poems, 250-word limit on essays)

http://www.cricketmag.com/pages_content.asp?page_id=13

Cricket Magazine appears to have a new contest monthly. July 2005 is a photography contest.

http://www.firstwriter.com/competitions/

Lists hundreds of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and script-writing contests. Mostly for adults, but some for kids. To get the details on any competition, you need to pay a $3 subscription for an unspecified period.

http://www.ibike.org/essays/

The International Bike Fund sponsors an annual writing competition. SUBJECT: Your essay may be on any aspect of bicycling (history, touring, racing, commuting, role in society, learning, teaching, etc.) *

ENTRY: Essays should be in English, legible and 2-3 pages. Entrants can base their paper on interviews, research, and/or personal opinion. ...

Girls and boys from all countries are encouraged to participate. You need not be a bicyclist. All essays become the property of the International Bicycle Fund. Decisions of the judges are final.

ENTRY CATEGORIES AND FIRST PLACE PRIZES:
A. Age 8 and under, US$20.00 (up to half of the entry may be illustration).
B. Age 9-12, US$30.00
C. Age 13-16, US$50.00
Additional prizes may be awarded.

DEADLINE: Entry must be postmarked by 1 May and arrive no later than 15 May, each year.

http://www.writingstuff.com/blogfest.html

Rules change with each competition. There are prizes, but it seems like you have to keep a blog to be eligible. The prizes seem to go more for how revealing and personal the blog is than the quality of the writing. (I.e. this contest is not suitable for children.)

http://www.potatohill.com/contest.html

In July 2005, not updated since spring 2004, so probably not a very useful site for contest listings.

http://www.writing-world.com/contests/index.shtml

contest database search form. As of 4 July 2005, they say NOTE: The Contest Database was lost due to a recent "catastrophic server failure." We are still attempting to recover it, or the data, but for now the database is not available.

Other Writing Pointers

http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html

A somewhat interesting essay on what an essay is (and why high-school essay writing misses the point).