Student Writing Contest and Scholarship

Amazing opportunity for young writers!  Can’t you just taste the salty sea air already?  Good luck!

The Black Dog Tall Ships & Merlyn’s Pen Writing Contest

Start Date   March 10, 2010End Date   May 1, 2010Eligibility   Writers ages 12 to 17

“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sails’ shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

  

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied. . . . ”  from

“Sea Fever,” by John Masefield

CONTEST TOPIC: NATURE AND THE SEA

Has something in nature ever called to you? Has your soul been tugged by something not quite seen, only felt? Have you seen a place in nature that you’ve never forgotten? Have you been outside in a storm or shower and felt, yes, I belong here. Writers, artists and adventurers share a sensitivity to nature’s claim on us. In their art and exploration, they are attuned to a hidden, even incomprehensible connection to the natural world.

For the young poet John Masefield, whose phrase “down to the seas” is never far from a sailor’s mind when he or she has been too long on land, it was the ocean that tugged at his soul, called out to him. For others, it might be the sky that beckons, or the mountains, a desert, or a grove. Or the tug could come from a simple tree, a creek, a pond, a garden, a country path, an arrangement of stones. This contest asks: What in nature calls, or has called out, to you?

ELIGIBILITY & PRIZE

Writers 12 to 17 years old as of July 11, 2010, are eligible. Poetry, personal narratives (nonfiction), and creative nonfiction are welcome.

The winner earns a full scholarship, plus a travel stipend of up to $400* to attend The Black Dog Tall Ships “Kids Cruise–Writers’ Week,” the writing & sailing adventure for teens this July in Martha’s Vineyard. 

HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST

Go to www.merlynspen.org, and on the home page click Submit Your Writing Here, or click “You Write,” then “Submit Your Writing.” Writers may submit up to three poems or two personal narratives during the contest period. (If you enter poetry and prose, send no more than two poems and one narrative.)

Click here for inspiration! See how some teen authors have written about nature and the sea.