Bennington Young Writers Awards: How to Win the Competition
by
Indigo Research Team
&
Published:
September 11, 2024
Last Updated:
September 12, 2024
Would you consider yourself a young writer aiming to become a professional writer and storyteller? Then, the Bennington Young Writers Award might just be meant for you! This is a very competitive contest hosted by Bennington College, aimed at high school poets, fictionists, and nonfiction writers.
What’s more, winning this award gives you more than just a confidence boost; it embellishes your college applications as well as prepares you for more writing in the future. Therefore, this guide will inform you of everything you need to know about the Bennington Young Awards and how you can best approach this competition.
The Bennington College Young Writers Awards was initiated by Bennington College in order to encourage excellent writing at the high school level and to honor students who produce outstanding pieces of writing.
This prestigious competition is held every year for a certain period, starting from September 1 to November 1 and receives approximately over 7,000 applicants every year. The aim of creating the Bennington College Young Writers Award is to inspire young writers to chase their love of writing and creativity and help the children’s work be showcased at a broader and more national level.
There are three categories in the Bennington Young Writers Awards; they are poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Each category lets the students practice different styles of writing and allows them to develop their own voices.
One of the parameters for eligibility is that participants must be high school students in grades 9 through 12. Students are allowed to register for all three categories and be able to demonstrate their creativity in all the categories.
Not only does the Bennington Young Writers Poetry Award offer cash prizes, but in this case, it also provides scholarships to Bennington College, which makes it a great opportunity for upcoming young writers. All First place winners in a category get – $1,000, second places – $500, Third places – $250.
Also, prize winners get scholarships for $ 40,000 over four years, and the finalists receive the same scholarship reward for $60,000 over four years of undergraduate degree studies at Bennington College.
Visit the Bennington College website to submit your entry.
For those who wish to enter the Bennington Young Writers Awards competition, here’s how to be outstanding in the event:
One key element when competing in this Bennington Young Writers Award competition is choosing the right category. What comes to your mind as far as your writing style and preference are concerned? If your strength lies in the use of vivid imagery and the depiction of emotions, then poetry may be the area for you.
However, if you’re interested in interesting subplots and out-of-this-world characters, then you may enjoy Fiction. If you know how to make the presentation of facts and a person’s point of view interesting, then you belong in Non-Fiction.
One way to gauge what you’re good at is to think about previous feedback on your work and select the category with the most positive review and that you feel most passionate about.
The Bennington Young Writers Poetry Award requires you to submit something new, interesting and organized. Make sure that you create a strong story or plausible claim upheld by well-written and powerful images. Your characters’ designs or ideas should be well-rounded and realistic.
Always start with a hook that will create the characters in the reader’s mind. Using the principle of “show, do not tell” and following it with imagery and motion. You can do this with descriptive writing, which helps enable the reader to see the situation rather than simply read about it.
Be as brief as possible and cut out words that do not add any value to the writing. Use dialogue to reveal the characters and move the story forward. In the last step, make sure to review your work and proofread it several times to make it right and free from mistakes.
Some of the criteria that a Bennington Young Writers Awards judge considers include relevance, originality, creativity, and how well the audience is captured. They want good pieces that are well articulated, using captivating language and diverse styles.
You should also try to avoid common mistakes that may sabotage your chances of winning, such as overused themes, poor coherence, and grammatical errors. Also, do not use cliches but write what is genuine.
Regarding the structure of your submission, keep in mind that it must be written in English, typed, double-spaced, and readable with fonts like Arial or Times New Roman 12-point font size.
Editing helps in making sure that what you have written gets to the point with intended clarity. It gives you a chance to polish your expression and how well your story is organized, and it also fixes some language issues in your work.
Though editing and proofreading seem quite simple, we think it is important to take note of the following.
As a result of making sure that you edit and proofread your submission, you will increase your chances of winning the competition.
Writer’s block is a massive issue that can weaken your motivation as you try to make the perfect submission for the Bennington Young Writers Awards. Some ways to fix that are to take regular breaks, find what makes you comfortable and get in “the zone”, or try different writing methods.
When writer’s block sets in, it may also help to do something that does not involve any writing. This could mean participating in activities that will stimulate your creative side like reading a book, listening to your favorite song or going for a stroll.
If those don’t work, consider breaking down the writing process into smaller chunks by creating an outline of what you want to cover. You can also do more research and engross yourself in the topic to give your thoughts a well of knowledge to draw from.
An academic sponsor is important in your application for validation and support. In the case of conventional students, your teacher takes on the role of the sponsor, which is why you must provide a contact for a teacher in case of any questions. This gives support to the application submitted and helps the judges in ascertaining the applicant’s submission.
Students who are homeschooled should have a willing mentor who helps in sponsoring their projects. This sponsor might be a tutor, a parent or family member related to the expertise, or any other person with high credibility who can guarantee the quality of the text or project that is written.
Achievement of this caliber comes with a lot of pride because it is only awarded to scholars, college admission officers and literary professionals. It emphasizes your zeal and ability in writing and bestows on you an appropriate glory beyond secondary education.
There are decent cash prizes for the competition, with first-place holders receiving $1000 and above. Furthermore, the winners and finalists received excellent scholarship opportunities for their undergraduate studies at Bennington College.
In addition, you come across other young and established writers through the Bennington Young Writers Awards. Thus, such an opportunity to create work-related contacts in the writing world may be important for those who wish to become writers.
The Bennington Young Writers Awards offers ample benefits such as recognition, funds, and constructive criticism that favor young writers. This wonderful competition gives you so much more than great college applications – it connects you with avid readers and friends in the literary world.
Nonetheless, if you would like to try something else that allows you to delve into health, aerospace, technology, etc., then go ahead and read about the Conrad Challenge and How to Win.
If you are interested in writing, consider doing research. Conducting research will help you learn to support your argument, incorporate facts & analyze data. Our experienced mentors will guide you throughout the process, whatever your passion is!
