High school aged students who love to put their pen to paper (or fingertip to keyboard) can enter Warren County Community College’s 2016 Warren County High School Poetry and Fiction Contests.

The contests are open to any Warren County high school student, including those who attend private schools or are home-schooled. There is no entry fee.  

Over the years hundreds of high school students have participated in this highly competitive contest. Each contest will be judged by the creative writing professors at WCCC. 

Prizes for each contest are gift cards to Barnes & Noble in the following denominations: $60 for first place, $40 for second place, and $25 for third place.  

 The first, second, and third place poems and stories (or excerpts of stories) will be published in Ars Poetica, the WCCC student art and literary magazine. The winners will also be invited to read at the April 28th Ars Poetica release event, which will also feature the published student writers of WCCC. 

This is a great opportunity to add a line to a student’s resume or boost a college application.

How To Enter

Poems and fiction stories will be judged separately.

Each poem should be no longer than four pages. Each story should be no longer than twenty pages.

All entries must be typed. Short stories must be double-spaced.  

Each student’s name, home address, high school, and an e-mail address and phone number should appear at the beginning of every short story and/or poem submitted. Students who are home-schooled should mention that in lieu of the name of a high school. 

Students are invited to enter one or both contests as they wish. 

Submissions should be sent to the following address:

Professor BJ Ward
Warren County High School Poetry and Fiction Contests
Warren County Community College
475 Route 57 West
Washington, NJ  07882. 

The postmark deadline for submissions is Saturday, Feb. 29, 2016. The contest’s results will be posted on the college’s web site (www.warren.edu) in early April. 

Warren County Community College is home to the Associate in Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing, the first in New Jersey and one of only five of its kind nationally, as recognized by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. For more information about the degree or the high school writing contests, please call (908) 835-2531 or e-mail ward@warren.edu.