KMWP Leslie Walker Writers of Promise Contest

Writing about Place

Leslie Walker strived to create community in her classroom through writing about place. This ongoing effort was realized through her dedication to teaching writing to her students. To continue Leslie’s work, we invite teachers to prompt their students to experiment writing about a specific place. What they express in their writing may be factual, imagined, or a combination of both.

Writing will be judged in three levels: 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grades.

Teachers are invited to submit up to twenty of their students’ most interesting pieces to our contest. Such writing may not be the most polished, and it may come from students who do not usually think of themselves as exceptional writers.

Students are encouraged to write about the experience of place that holds significance to them. This open-ended topic serves teachers across the curriculum. The student’s voice should be evident throughout the piece. The following suggestions may help guide students to write about place, but any interpretations of the idea of place are welcome.

• Social Studies and History teachers may invite students to write about place during a particular historical moment, on maps, or with data sets.
• Science teachers might ask students to use what they know about certain scientific principles or methods in which place would hold significant meaning.
• Math teachers may ask the students to write about place as it applies to numbers or mathematical concepts.
• Language Arts and English teachers may use memoir writing to help their students explore the idea of place through their unique memories.

In this annual contest, we ask that students’ writings be typed or neatly written in dark ink, up to 1000 words in length, and mostly error-free. We ask that writing be accompanied with the permission slip and a non-identifying letter from the student writer addressed “Dear Judges,” that (1) will explain how the students know what they do about the place and (2) give the judges an idea of the history, data, scientific principle, etc. written about. (This may be a website, a picture, or anything else that will help the judges connect to the writing.)  The only identifiable portion of the entry should be the information on the permission slip page attached to the unidentifiable Dear Judges letter and writing entry.

Writing Prompt & Contest Summary

Permission Slip & "Dear Judges" Letter Instructions

Annual submission dates: January 3-March 1.

Submissions are to be sent to the KMWP on or postmarked by March 1:

                                KMWP Leslie Walker Writers of Promise Contest

                                Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project

                                Kennesaw State University

                                1000 Chastain Road., MD 2701

                                Kennesaw, GA 30144

Or, emailed to KMWP@kennesaw.edu as an attachment, with the subject line LW Writers Submission.  Please do NOT do both.  Either mail OR email.

Winners will be announced in April. Winning students will receive cash awards and an invitation to be honored at the Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project’s annual meeting.

Questions? Email Mandee Jablonski, the contest director, at: Mandee.Jablonski@gmail.com.

*                      *                   *                   *                 *                  *

A Note about Funding for the Contest:

KMWP cannot use federal grant funds for student awards.  We can only  fund many aspects of this contest from your contributions to KMWP's Foundation Account. For instance, the 2011 and 2012 contest was generously funded by a Gwinnett Youth Writing Camp donation from 2010.  Currently, funding is not in place for 2013 so your help is needed.

Please make a contribution so that we may continue this tribute to Leslie and to the students about which she cared so much. Contact us at KMWP@kennesaw.edu for further information.  You may mail your check made payable to Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project with Leslie Walker Writers of Promise Contest in the memo line  and mail it to the address shown above for KMWP.

Many thanks to all of you for judging past contests, having your students write for this contest, contributing time and/or dollars, and providing leadership  for this annual way in which we honor teacher Leslie Walker.  We look forward to another great year of the KMWP Leslie Walker Writers of Promise Contest!