Youth Writing Festival scheduled at Southern Arkansas University
MAGNOLIA, Ark. —The Department of English and Foreign Languages of Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, will host the annual Youth Writing Festival on Saturday, March 8, 2008. Deadline for entries is February 8, 2008.
The festival, which is held every spring, has grown from 345 entries in 1995 to 1,153 entries last year. Students from schools across south Arkansas submit poems, short stories, and essays, which are then judged good, superior, or excellent. Out of the entries judged excellent, three are chosen in each category and grade level to receive special recognition consisting of a cash prize for first, second, and third place winners, and a trophy for the first place winners.
The annual festival developed from a summer writing class for public school teachers taught by Dr. Kathleen Mallory, associate professor of English at SAU. The event is co-sponsored by the Gerald F. and Betty Fincher Scott Academic Endowment, made available through the generosity of Harold and D.J. Fincher and the Peoples Bank of Magnolia and Waldo.
On the day of the festival a welcoming address will be given, then students will separate into grade levels and model writing workshops will be held, followed by peer reading sessions. The day is capped off with the awards ceremony.
Entry forms may be requested by calling David Wingfield in the Department of English and Foreign Languages, (870) 235-4202, or by emailing dlwingfield@saumag.edu. They also can be printed by going to our Web site, http://www.saumag.edu/efldept/, then clicking on Youth Writing Festival 2008.
