Many school clubs are experiencing a drop in membership this year due to last year’s graduating senior class. One such group, the Young Writers’ Club, led by faculty sponsor and English teacher David Simms, hopes to change that.
To increase membership, Simms has decided to host a writing contest throughout the months of September and October. Any contest entry can be turned in via email, Google Docs, or in person, but the window closes on Halloween (Oct. 31).
“It’s for anyone who’s interested in writing short stories or books or just wants to get more in touch with their creative self,” said Simms.
The parameters of the contest have been left deliberately loose. Neither Simms nor senior Josh Henson, leader of the club, wanted severe restrictions on what contenders could or could not write.
“There’s no specific set topic, just personal interest combined with what you can make work,” Henson said. “I’m not going to set a length, because that restricts people. I’ve read some great things that are 400 words. I’ve read some terrible things that were 20,000 words. Sometimes I feel like length can be this sort of barbed wire fence that doesn’t need to be there. So there’s going to be no limit – just as long as it takes to tell a story and tell it well.”
Both Henson and Simms are in charge of judging each entry.
“It won’t be based on the quality of writing, because writing is such a subjective thing. You can have very flowery prose and it be a terrible story, or you can have very to-the-point phrasing and it can be an excellent story,” Henson said. “I don’t feel that anyone should be afraid to participate out of fear of being judged. It’s more about ‘can you tell a story,’ or even a poem, can you do something that you mean and that you’re sincere about.”
Simms hopes the contest will help young teens keep from becoming disillusioned with writing.
“My second novel came out this summer and I did a whole lot of interviews across the country, and people kept asking me if young people read, and I said ‘well, not much,’” said Simms. “They were asking me how we can get more people to read, I said ‘okay, well, put the carrot at the end of the stick, make it alluring, make it something that’s interesting for them, and they’ll come.’”
In this case, the carrot is a prize — the winning student will receive a signed copy of a book by their favorite author, whoever that may be. The winner will tell Simms who their favorite author is, and Simms will pull strings until he can get a signed book.
“[I want] to show a lot of students that writing can be both fun and physically rewarding,” said Simms. “I want to take away the stigma of writing being for a simple grade.”
Henson has a different goal in mind.
“Last year the club didn’t really get to do a lot. We didn’t have a lot of people. I think it sort of tapered off to just me there for a while,” Henson said. “We had about seven to ten members. A third of them were seniors, so I’d say the club right now is a very small club, five to ten members. Last year – by the end of the year – it was just me.”
Henson hopes the contest will attract more members, both to expand the club and to carry on its legacy.
“At the very least, I’m looking for a successor next year, because I would really hate to be the one who has to turn the lights off on the club,” said Henson.
The contest winner will be announced later in October.