The 2007 – 2008 Prelude Awards
Submission Guidelines

Overview Schedule Entry Forms Submission Guildlines: Collaboration Creative Writing Dance Instumental Music Theater Video and Film Visual Arts Vocal Music

Creative Writing

General Requirements
Contestants may submit up to 15 typed pages of work in the following categories: fiction, personal essay, poetry, playwriting or screenwriting.
(If a contestant’s submission is an excerpt from a larger work, he/she may submit a one-page synopsis of that work in addition to the 15 pages of text.)
Contestants may limit their submissions to one category or may submit selections of work in several categories. Submissions must be printed cleanly, using a plain, easy-to-read font. Type should not be smaller than 12 points. Contestants who crowd their manuscripts in an effort to include more text will be disqualified. Fictional works and personal essays must be double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Pages must be numbered. Poems must be printed one to a page. If a poem is more than one page, the pages must be numbered. Plays and screenplays must be submitted in correct form. The body should be double-spaced. Speeches should be single-spaced with the speaker’s name centered above the speech. Use a double space between speeches. Pages must be numbered. Contestants must include five copies and a cover sheet with their name, school, category/categories and title(s) of work submitted. This cover sheet is the only place a contestant’s name should appear. Contestants who do not observe this rule will be disqualified. Submissions may be delivered to The Children’s Museum (3000 North Meridian St.) no later than 5 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2007. If mailed, they should be addressed to: Ruby Ellison, Prelude Awards, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, P.O. Box 3000, Indianapolis, IN 46206-3000. Mailed submissions must be postmarked no later than Dec. 3, 2007. Contestants should retain copies of their work. The Children’s Museum will not return creative writing submissions. The depiction of sex, violence and inappropriate language is prohibited.

Criteria
Judges will be noting the contestant’s mastery of the following writing skills:

General Writing Ability
Clarity:
Is each sentence clearly written and grammatically correct? Does the writer avoid confusion resulting from incorrect punctuation and/or capitalization? Is the sequence of sentences logical, providing a clear path through the piece from beginning to end?

Focus:
Does the writer establish and sustain focus throughout the piece? Does the reader come to the end of a piece of writing with a clear sense of what the writer meant to say?

Organization:
Does the piece of writing flow smoothly, with strong transitions from one part to the next?

Style:
Does the piece of writing have a strong, individual voice? Does the writer make good use of visual and sensory details that underpin his/her meaning and trigger an emotional response in the reader? Do the writer’s word choices reflect both the emotional and literal meaning of the piece of writing? Does the use of figurative language and sentence construction (length and rhythm) enhance the meaning and tone of the piece of writing?

Mastery of Form
Fiction:
Stories should reflect the writer’s mastery of the basic techniques of fiction, including plot, character, dialogue and point of view. A good story has a strong beginning that establishes the mood, theme and point of view through the actions of the main characters. It maintains focus throughout, making logical, effective transitions as it moves toward an end that brings the issues of the story to a satisfying resolution. Characters are complex and psychologically believable. Dialogue reflects the unique personality of each character, and is carefully crafted to move the plot forward. Scenes are fully rendered, using specific details that allow the reader to experience the action fully and come to his/her own conclusions. Contestants submitting an excerpt of a longer work of fiction (novella, novel) should try to find a selection that stands alone or needs little explanation.

Poetry:
Poems should reflect the poet’s understanding of the craft of poetry. A poem should be focused, achieving completion as a statement or experience. Each word should be chosen carefully to contribute to the poem’s meaning, rhythm and tone. Line breaks, line length and stanza breaks should enhance the poem’s meaning and effect. Use of symbols and figurative language should be appropriate to the tone and meaning of the poem. The poet should avoid telling his/her feelings and attempt to create the feelings on the page through use of details/imagery that evoke the reader’s response. If working in a specific poetic form, such as sonnet or villanelle, the poet will be judged on all of the above, as well as on his/her mastery of that form. Rhyming poetry is generally best avoided. However, if using rhyme, the poet should take care not to let the rhyming requirements interfere with the overall meaning and effect of the poem.

Personal Essay:
A strong personal essay grows from a question in the writer’s mind. It includes personal experience as well as information gleaned through research and/or observation. Its organization and transitions reflect the discovery process by which the writer came to some resolution of the issue in his/her own mind.

Playwriting:
Plays should have a strong sense of time, place and mood; a clear plot; and well-crafted, believable characters. Dialogue should reflect the personalities and unique voices of the characters and should be carefully crafted to move the plot forward. The play should reflect the playwright’s understanding of staging requirements.

Screenwriting:
Screenplays should have a clear plot and well-crafted, believable characters. They should reflect the screenwriter’s understanding of how films are made, including an awareness of how dialogue, voice-overs and camera work contribute to the overall effect of the script.

Judging
The panel of five judges will be comprised of working artists, critics, university professors and arts administrators from Indiana and surrounding states. In several instances, former Prelude Awards participants have served as judges.

When the submissions arrive at the museum, Prelude Awards staff will remove the cover sheets from the creative writing submissions and code them so that they may be read “blind.” The judges will rate each submission using the criteria described on this sheet.

It is rare for one contestant’s work to so outshine all the other competitors that he/she is a clear winner and every judge’s first choice. It is more common for the judges to identify several contestants with comparable skills. When this happens, the judges’ personal philosophies and preferences, as well as group dynamics, are bound to come into play in the process of selecting a winner. For instance, if three equally good stories are submitted to three separate competitions, each with a separate set of judges, it is unlikely that the same story will be judged the winner every time. It is extremely important for contestants to understand and accept that this element of subjectivity in the judging process is natural and inevitable.

Winning the Prelude Awards does not guarantee a successful career in the arts; nor does losing the competition mean that a successful career in the arts is out of the question. Successful working artists agree that self-discipline, hard work, determination and one’s ability to deal positively with criticism are the best indicators for success in the arts. Many brilliant high school performers have gone on to lead very traditional lives. Many people whose talents went completely unrecognized in high school have gone on to have brilliant careers in the arts.

This year’s Prelude Awards will provide just one of many occasions in which a young artist’s creative efforts will be judged. A realistic picture of how a competition works and a healthy attitude about winning and losing will help keep stress to a minimum and allow contestants to keep the competition in good perspective so that it can be a useful learning experience.

Media Partner:

For additional information on the Prelude Awards at The Children’s Museum contact Ruby Ellison, Community Programs Coordinator at (317) 334-4119.