HidSchool Writing Contest

DU School Writing Contests

Your whole school (including teachers) is a writing team,
competing against other schools from around the world!

PRIMARY SCHOOL: SECONDARY SCHOOL:

1ST AU$ 400 1ST AU$ 400
2ND AU$ 100 2ND AU$ 100
3RD AU$ 50 3RD AU$ 50
Honourable Mentions: A DU book of your choice

PLUS: Prizewinners and honourable mentions
get published by DU!

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the first DU School Writing Contest organized by Daily-Update Publishers. We established this contest as a way to involve the entire school, including teachers, in a challenging multi-media project. Schools basically organize motivated teams of students and teachers to work on various tasks involved in the project, including management, historical research, writing, sketching, painting, computer-aided design, editing and proof-reading. Young students and older students will come together, complementing each other’s skills and talents and working towards a common goal.

We expect this project to be inspirational. It will be exciting, memorable and a wonderful way to build up both pride in your school and a variety of skills.

There are two levels: primary/ elementary schools and secondary/ high schools. The topic and rules for the two levels are the same. Basically, all the students and teachers in your school work together on a big writing and visual arts project. Your school competes against other schools from around the world.

Schools that are awarded an honourable mention or come first, second or third will have their work published by Daily-Update Publishers. They will also win a prize (see above).

The closing date for this contest is 1^st May 2007 and we plan to make it an annual event thereafter. Tell your teacher or principal about this contest so that your school can register and compete. See what happens when every brain in a school is put to work on one huge project. The results will amaze you as you do your best to be the best in the world!

DETAILS

Primary School Contest

Closing date for registration & payment: 31st December 2006
(or 15th November 2006 for the Earlybird Special - see below)

Closing date for entries: 1^st May 2007

Winning entries announced on this Webpage: 15^th July 2007

Maximum length: 2000 words, not counting your topic, citation or bibliography

Maximum File Size: 5MB

Submission: We are asking for a history-based short story (see “Topic” below for more information)

Entry fee: AU$35.00 per school (deadline is 31st December 2006)

Earlybird Special: Register and pay before 15th November 2006
and pay only AU$25.00 per entry

Payment may be made by the following methods:

(a) Australian cheque or money order made out to Daily-Update Pty Ltd;
(b) Bank draft made out to Daily-Update Pty Ltd;
(c) PayPal to our account: support@daily-update.com (you can set up a free PayPal account at www.paypal.com then it is free to send money to our PayPal account);
(d) Credit card (just fill in your details on the entry form - see below).

How to register:
CLICK HERE to go to the entry form.

Receipt of your entry will be acknowledged by email (if an email address is provided).

Secondary School Contest

Closing date for registration & payment: 31st December 2006
(or 15th November 2006 for the Earlybird Special - see below)

Closing date for entries: 1^st May 2007

Winning entries announced on this Webpage: 15^th July 2007

Maximum length: 4000 words, not counting your topic, citation or bibliography

Maximum File Size: 8MB

Submission: We are asking for a history-based short story (see “Topic” below for more information)

Entry fee: AU$40.00 per entry (deadline is 31st December 2006)

Earlybird Special: Register and pay before 15th November 2006
and pay only AU$30.00 per entry

Payment may be made by the following methods:

(a) Australian cheque or money order made out to Daily-Update Pty Ltd;
(b) Bank draft made out to Daily-Update Pty Ltd;
(c) PayPal to our account: support@daily-update.com (you can set up a free PayPal Business or Premier account at www.paypal.com then it is free to send money to our PayPal account);
(d) Credit card (just fill in your details on the entry form - see below).

How to register:
CLICK HERE to go to the entry form.

Receipt of your entry will be acknowledged by email (if an email address is provided).

Rules for both Primary and Secondary School Contests

1. Entries must be in English.

2. Entries must be in Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign. The preferred method of submission is by attaching the file to an email and sending it to contest@daily-update.com
If you cannot provide your submission in one of the above four formats, then you can send a hard (paper) copy (not original) to:

Daily-Update Publishers
PO Box 1031
Macleay Island
Qld 4184
Australia

3. Only the students and teachers of a school are allowed to work on the entry. The teachers must contribute to the project, but their contribution should total no more than 10 percent of the overall hours/effort.

4. Entries over the word count or over the maximum file size will be read and considered, but will be treated less favourably. Keeping to these limits will help develop concise writing and the technical ability to optimize picture files.

5. Entries arriving at Daily-Update after the closing date will not be considered.

6. Entries arriving without the entry fee (or prior payment of the fee) will not be considered until the entry fee arrives.

7. Once your school has submitted an entry, it cannot be altered.

8. The Primary-Elementary School level generally consists of grades 1 to 6. The level may optionally include the work of pre-schoolers. The level may also include the work of grade 7 students, but only if grade 7 is part of the primary-elementary school. The Secondary-High School level is confined to students in grades 7 to 12.

9. The three winning schools and honourable mentions for each level agree to have their entries published by Daily-Update, either in two anthologies (one for the primary level and the other for the secondary one) or in a combined anthology, depending on the standard and number of entries. All authors retain copyright in their works.

10. A school may submit more than one entry if desired. Each entry requires a separate entry form, although the fees for all entries may be combined in one payment.

11. Entries must include footnotes (or other method of citation) to describe the sources of your historical information, as well as a bibliography. Entries should also be thoroughly proof-read. Typos; spelling and grammar errors; and inappropriate or ineffective word choice should be eliminated, and the work refined to improve flow and quality.

12. When you register, you will be given a unique code. Put your topic at the top of your submission, along with this code (don’t put your name on your submission - your work will then be anonymous for the judge).

13. Pages should be typed and numbered. The layout is otherwise completely up to you.

14. All images used in the project must be the original work of the students and teachers.

15. Your work must be decent since children may be reading it (so no swear words or rude bits, please).

Topic for both Primary and Secondary School Contests

Both primary and secondary schools are asked to write and illustrate a historical tale set in your own country. This topic will therefore require many skills, including management, historical research, creative writing, all kinds of art, technology, editing, proof-reading and citation. You will need your whole school to complete this project.

You may have read a historical novel before. A novel is a lengthy book that tells a story. A historical novel is a story that is firmly set in history. Not all parts of the novel need to have happened, but at least some of the people and events in the story will be true. The plot is often set in times of economic or political change such as wars, famines or gold rushes. The characters are then affected by these changes. Sometimes the characters are famous and may have created changes.

Many historical novels have been made into films and vice versa, including Cleopatra (based on the Queen of Egypt’s struggles to survive a civil war and Rome’s rise to power); Braveheart (about the 13th century Scottish freedom-fighter, William Wallace); Elizabeth (based on the 16th century Queen Elizabeth I); Les Misérables (about life during and after the Napolonic wars in France in the early 19th century); Gone with the Wind (set in the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865); The Last Samurai (loosely based on the 1877 rebellion by the samurai of Satsuma against the Imperial Japanese Army); Titanic (on the ship that sank on its first voyage in 1912); The Grapes of Wrath (about ordinary people trying to survive the Great Depression by moving from Oklahoma to California); Aviator (based on the life of the rich, eccentric pilot, producer and playboy, Howard Hughes); and Schindler’s List (about a German businessman who helped save more than 1,100 Jews in the Second World War).

Many of the longest epic films and thickest epic books are historically-based. But don’t worry! You’re not being asked to write a historical novel - they are too long - just a “historical tale,” a short story that somehow links to history. Your tale will have a maximum word count of 2000 words for primary schools or 4000 words for secondary schools.

Here are some other things to keep in mind as you work on this project:

THE HISTORY IN YOUR TALE MUST BE THAT OF YOUR OWN COUNTRY

The winning schools will have their work published and we want this book to be filled with fascinating historical tales from around the world. After all, you know the history of your country better than the history of any other country, and certainly better than we know it!

THE HISTORY IN YOUR TALE WILL PREFERABLY BE “NEW”

We are looking for special, interesting historical facts of which people outside your country are not generally aware. What can you tell us about your history that we didn’t already know? This will require deeper research than just reading your school history textbook.

THE HISTORY IN YOUR TALE WILL PREFERABLY BE MORE THAN JUST COSTUMES

We’re asking you to do more than just tell a modern story with horses replacing cars and powdered wigs replacing hair gel. Your historical short story should incorporate real history from your own country.

THE HISTORY IN YOUR TALE WILL PREFERABLY BE MORE IMAGINATIVE THAN PURE HISTORY

Even historians use their creativity to fill the gaps between known facts. However, we’re asking you to go further than just link historical facts. For example, feel free to imagine what historical people would have been thinking; or insert characters who become friends or enemies of historical people; or elaborate on a funny/ interesting/ dramatic event (large or small).

YOUR TALE MUST BE FULLY ILLUSTRATED AND LAID OUT ATTRACTIVELY

All images must be the original work of students and teachers. You can draw, paint, sculpt, photograph or render with the computer. Just make sure that when you convert the images to digital files that they are of sufficiently high quality for publishing (in case your school is one of the winning entries). The images should not be of low resolution, for example. On the other hand, remember the maximum file size for your entry (5MB for primary schools and 8MB for secondary schools) and learn to optimize images cleverly.

THE READER OF YOUR TALE WILL PREFERABLY LEARN HISTORY

For the purposes of this contest, we would like the main facts in your story to be historically accurate. The winning schools will have their work published and we want this book to be educational as well as enjoyable. So please try not to be so loose with the truth that you’re radically rewriting history.

YOUR TALE MUST CITE HISTORICAL SOURCES USED

To show that your research has been thorough and your main facts are accurate, your tale must include footnotes (or other method of citation) for your text and captions for your images, as well as a bibliography. You may not have learnt how to cite your sources or write a bibliography, so your teachers will have to show you how to do this. You may use any common system of referencing provided that it is consistent.

YOUR TALE NEED NOT BE AN ACTUAL TALE IN FORM

Instead of writing a tale, your school may decide to take a different approach. For example, you might decide to create an old newspaper; an application for a patent; an annotated map; or an illustrated poem. Just make sure that you include both writing and illustrations.

Further Suggestions

We will also be judging the writing component of your story in these four areas:

1. Research and Structure

2. Setting, Plot and Character Development

3. Supporting Details and Literary Skill (for example, the ability to find something profound in an everyday event)

4. the Mechanics, such as spelling, punctuation, grammar, word choice, usage and flow

For further help in these four areas, please CLICK HERE.

Each entry will be judged as a whole, taking into account what the school seems to be wanting to achieve and an assessment of the overall quality of writing.

As a very, very general guide (and we may not stick to this guide at all should an entry have a radically different structure, content or style), we will look at many of the points in the DAILY-UPDATE SENIOR CONTEST GUIDE.

The points in this guide tend to cover a broad range of works, from short stories and poems to opinion essays and factual accounts, but again - they are only a rough guide. Please do not feel limited in any way.

Queries

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