The Spokesman-Review’s 2023 high school outdoor writing contest is accepting submissions
The Spokesman-Review’s annual high school outdoor writing contest is accepting submissions.
The 2023 contest is open to high school students from the newspaper’s circulation area in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
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:
- Contestants must be in grades 9-12 and from the newspaper circulation area in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
- Stories must be original and created in 2023.
- Entries may be no longer than 1,000 words.
- Include the writer’s name, school, grade, home address and telephone.
Stories must be received by Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. Entries may be emailed to outdoors@spokesman.com. In the subject line, please include “High school writing contest.”
Please send stories in a Microsoft Word or similar word processing document.
Newspaper staff will pick the best entries and award one $50 first-place prize and at least two $30 runner-up prizes.
Winning entries will be published in the Sunday Outdoors section and entered in the national OWAA Norm Strung Youth Writing Awards. The national contest offers awards of up to $200.
In 35 years, 46 finalists from The S-R contest have won national awards.
This marks the 36th year the newspaper has joined the Outdoors Writers Association of America in sponsoring contests for youth outdoor writing.