September 13, 2009 in Outdoors

Contest a ‘write’ of fall for high school students

By The Spokesman-Review
 
The Spokesman-Review photo

Olson
(Full-size photo)

Local writer wins national honor

 Tyler Olson, a finalist in the Spokesman-Review’s 2008 Youth Outdoor Writing Contest for high school students, advanced to a national contest in which he won fourth place and $75 this spring.

 Olson was a senior from Cheney High School last winter when he submitted “Sheltered Child,” a story that detailed the cold reality of a snowshoeing family’s resourcefulness after being caught in a storm.

 In June, Olson’s story was among the winners in the Norm Strung Youth Writing Competition sponsored by the Outdoor Writers Association of America and Safari Club International.

It’s time for high schoolers to begin thinking about fame, fortune and the great outdoors

The Spokesman-Review once again is joining the Outdoor Writers Association of America in sponsoring a contest for youth outdoor writing.

The contest is open to high school students from the newspaper’s circulation area. Entries must be on the general topic of “outdoors.” This includes subjects such as hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, boating, nature and conservation. Any literary style — including humor, fiction, letters or poetry — is acceptable.

Other contest rules are as follows:

•Contestants must be in grades 9-12 and from the newspaper circulation area in Eastern Washington or North Idaho.

•Stories must be original and may be no longer than 1,000 words.

•Entries should include the writer’s name, school, grade, home address and telephone.

•Stories should be typed.

Entries must be received by 5 p.m. Nov. 18.

•Limit is one entry per student.

E-mail entries to richl@spokesman.com. Receipt of all e-mail entries will be acknowledged.

Entries also can be mailed or delivered to Youth Outdoor Writing Contest, Sports Department, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane 99201.

Newspaper writers and editors will pick the best entries and award one $75 first-place prize and at least two $50 runner-up prizes.

The winning entries will be published in the Sunday Outdoors section and entered in the national OWAA Scholastic Writing Contest.

The national contest offers awards of up to $200 for the best outdoors articles published by high school students in 2009.

In 23 years, 38 finalists from The Spokesman-Review contest have won national awards.

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