The Southern Lit Alliance and the English Department of UTC will sponsor the 2015 Young Southern Student Writers Contest. Since 1999, the Young Southern Student Writers contest has been a creative outlet for children and young adults in the community. Students from any K-12 school in the greater Chattanooga area (including home school students) are eligible to participate in this writing contest.
This year, 3,954 original works in poetry and prose were submitted to the UTC English Department for consideration. With "great enthusiasm and attention," members of the UTC English Department review every entry on the basis of creativity, content, and style.
Joe Wilferth, Southern Lit Alliance Board member and UC Foundation professor in the English
Department of UTC, especially acknowledges teachers and parents as vital roles in the creativity of Chattanooga youth. In the 2013 publication of winning entries, Wilferth says: “I would like to thank our region’s dedicated teachers, K-12, who encouraged their students to submit entries…I am grateful for their efforts as they teach young author to enjoy the craft and life-long skill of writing. Without our elementary, middle grades, and high school teachers and parents, we would not have such fine work from these young people.”
The winners of the Young Southern Student Writers contest will be recognized on April 14 at the historic Tivoli Theatre in downtown Chattanooga, just before the opening day of the 2015 Celebration of Southern Literature. Their original work will also be published in a Young Southern Student Writers journal from UTC.
Tim Boyd, Hamilton County Commissioner, District 8, will speak during ceremony for grades K-5; Kerry Howley, acclaimed essayist and creative writing professor at UTC will speak for grades 6-12.
For more information on the Southern Lit Alliance and the 2015 Celebration of Southern Literature, visit www.SouthernLitAlliance.org. For more information about the Young Southern Student Writers program visit http://www.utc.edu/english/yssw.php.