NEA Big Read 2021

National Teen Storyteller Contest: Social and Criminal Justice (Deadline Extended!)

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Submissions Accepted May 1 to June 25, 2021

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The deadline for submissions has been extended to June 25 at 11:59pm ET.

The Center for Fiction is once again partnering with The Decameron Project for a National Teen Storyteller Contest. Young writers, ages 13-18, are encouraged to submit your best work on the theme of Social and Criminal Justice for a chance to win online publication, a cash prize, and more. This contest is part of our NEA Big Read in celebration of Ernest J. Gaines’s classic novel A Lesson Before Dying. We invite entries to respond broadly to the themes of social justice and the criminal justice system. The stories should be between 300-1000 words.

The three winning stories will be published on The Center for Fiction and Decameron Project websites.

  • The first-place winner will receive a $100 cash prize, a $100 bookstore gift certificate, and a CFF tote bag.
  • The second-place winner will receive $50 bookstore gift certificate and a CFF tote bag.
  • The third-place winner will receive a $25 bookstore gift certificate and a CFF tote bag.

Final decisions regarding winners and finalists will be made by The Center for Fiction staff. The Center for Fiction reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any entries that do not follow the contest rules or contain lewd, obscene, defamatory, or hateful content.

The Center for Fiction’s Big Read initiative, running from March to June 2021, includes free online reading discussion groups, workshops for young writers, flash fiction writing contest for teens, and public events with authors and scholars. This initiative is made possible through a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Inspired By

  1. . 
    a lesson before dying ernest gaines

    A Lesson Before Dying

    By Ernest J. Gaines

    Published by Vintage

    PURCHASE

    Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, A Lesson Before Dying is a deep and compassionate novel about a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to visit a black youth on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. Together they come to understand the heroism of resisting.

About Our Partner

We are thrilled to partner with The Decameron Project once again. The student-run NYC-based nonprofit aims to empower students to express themselves creatively and share their stories amidst school closures and other hardships posed by COVID-19.

  • The Decameron Project

About this series

NEA Big Read 2021

The focus of the Center's Big Read initiative, running from March to June 2021, is the National Book Award winning A Lesson Before Dying by the renowned Ernest J. Gaines, who passed away on November 5, 2019. The multidisciplinary initiative includes free online reading discussion groups, workshops for young writers, flash fiction writing contest for teens, and public events with authors and scholars. The Big Read initiative is made possible through a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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