The Teen Short Story Contest officially begins today and runs through March 16, 2012.
You’ll have seven weeks to perfect that short story you’ve had this idea for, but just have never finished. Guidelines are easy to follow and when you’re ready, just send your story to allwrite@aadl.org
AADL’s short story writing contest just hit it’s 20 year.
You can read previous winning stories here or check out writing resources that might be helpful.
1st Place Winners receive ($250), 2nd Place ($150) and 3rd Place ($100) in these three categories: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-10, and Grades 11-12
A panel of published authors will judge the stories. The Awards Ceremony, featuring author Caitlin Horrocks, a winner of the 1997 short story contest, will be held Saturday, May 12, 2012, at the Downtown Library.
‘It’s All Write!” is cosponsored by the Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library and AADL.
Good Luck!

What is this contest all about? Well, the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in cooperation with state centers for the book and in partnership with Target Stores, invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest.
To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre--fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, contemporary or classic--explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves.
There are three competition levels:
Level I for children in grades 4 through 6;
Level II for grades 7 and 8,
Level III, grades 9 - 12.
Click here for the Entry Form. The contest deadline is Friday, January 6, 2012, so take the writing challenge. Read here some of the winning letters from 2011. Good Luck!

What is Letters About Literature? It's an annual program from the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores. Level I, II and III state winners receive a $50 Target gift card and can direct a $300 grant for children and youth materials to the community library of their choice. Finalists receive a $20 gift card to Schulers Books & Music from the Michigan Center for the Book.
This national reading-writing contest invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to write letters to authors of books that have changed their lives. This program gives students the opportunity to reflect deeply on a book.
Life changing for me? Possibly, Chris Crutcher, Robert Cormier, or Walter Dean Myers.
You can find more information, including last year's winning letters here.

If you missed this year's 6th Annual LEGO contest held at Weber's Inn last night you missed the highlight of some Ann Arborites' year! Breaking all previous records this year's contest was the biggest ever with 206 entries in 6 categories: Preschool, Grades K-2, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12 and Adult. And about 600 people attended the awards ceremony last night too! Thanks to all of this year's participants and we look forward to seeing you next year. Sometime soon there will be photographs of every winner's LEGO project linked here and permanently found on our contest page. Without further ado, the winners (after the jump).

Remember to check out the Teen Graffiti panels on display at the Downtown Library in the Multi-Purpose Room and also on the third floor. See the artwork of the thirty artists (including the three winners!) who came out during the Art Fair to express themselves in graffiti art. Panels will be on display until Tuesday, August 30 - including this rose from one of the winning artists!

We'll be painting on Masonite board in the staff lot (off of Williams) at the Downtown library this Friday, July 22, 11 AM - 1 PM. We'll supply paint, the boards, easels and cold water; you provide the creativity. All art work will be in a summer exhibit at the Downtown Library from July 26 - August 30. Three winners will receive gift certificates for art supplies ($75, $50 and $25). Grades 6-12. Local artist Joanie Newberry will be our Judge this year.

Check out the winners from previous years.

Thirty artists showed up on a hot day to express themselves and turned out fine pieces of art that will be on display at the downtown library until Tuesday, August 31st. All paintings will be in the Multi-Purpose Room and also on display on the third floor.

1st Place - 'Ocean Sunset' - artist Drew Hirzel
2nd Place - 'Untitled' - artist Lillian Xie
3rd Place - 'Rose' - artist Deanna Shih
Honorable Mention - 'Heart on Fire' - artist Popi Vorias
Honorable Mention - 'Thinking 4 Art' - Grace Tanvi

Our Judge this year is Joanie Newberry local visual artist and the top three winners will receive gift certificates for art supplies from Michigan Book and Supply, ($75,$50 and $25)

short story

Winners of the 'It's All Write!' Teen Short Story Contest were announced on Saturday to a packed house. The ceremony honored the Finalists of the contest, chosen from 340 submissions, along with announcing the Winners.
Patrick Jones was the featured guest author who delivered an inspiring talk to the teens and their families.
Check back for information on our esteemed panel of published authors who were Judges this year, a complete list of all Finalists, and of course the nine winning stories. info from last year
In the meantime, CONGRATULATIONS! to the Winners:

Middle School (Grades 6-7-8)
1st Samantha Puckorius 'Clark and Davidson'
2nd Carissa Skye 'Nexus'
3rd Dani Smotrich-Barr 'Raindrop'

High School (Grades 9-10)
1st Madeleine Bradford 'I Will Not Forget to Speak'
2nd Emily Xiao 'Importance of Being Intact'
3rd Erin Baughn 'To Fix the World'

High School (Grades 11-12)
1st Alexia Antoniou 'Taps'
2nd Ben DeVries 'Running'
3rd Logan Kilpela 'Herra's Nation'

patrick jones

Patrick's first novel for teens, Things Change, was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association as a best book for reluctant readers. He will announce the winners of It's All Write, the teen short story contest held annually at AADL. This year, 340 teens entered stories, which were judged by topnotch authors for teens.

All Finalists have been notified and will be honored at Saturday's program. The top three winners will receive $250 for 1st Place, $150 for 2nd Place, and $100 for 3rd Place in 3 grade categories. All finalists will receive certificates honoring their achievement. For those of you interested in tips and resources check out this fact sheet. We hope to continue to see lots of stories from this talented bunch of writers!
Saturday, May 21 | 1:30-3:00 pm | Downtown Library-Multi-Purpose Room

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WOW! If you read current popular and award winning teen titles, you’ll recognize this slate of JUDGES for the It’s All Write! Teen Short Story Writing Contest. Each of these judges will be reading and ranking the Finalists in one of three grade categories, 6-8, 9-10, and 11-12.

Cherry Cheva – originally from Ann Arbor, author of She’s So Money and DupliKate

John C. Ford – Debut Young Adult Mystery an Edgar Award Honor Winner for The Morgue and Me

Sugi Ganeshananthan – teaches at the University of Michigan, where she is the Zell Visiting Professor of Creative Writing

K.L. Going – Printz Honor for Fat Kid Rules the World, one award among many

Dana Reinhardt – currently on the 2011 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults for The Things a Brother Knows

Francisco X. Stork - YALSA Top 10 Books for Young Adults for Marcello in the Real World

short story

The It's All Write! Short Story Contest officially begins today and will run through March 18th. You'll have six weeks to perfect that short story. You know the one you've been meaning to get down on paper. Now is your chance! Guidelines for this year's contest are here. Send your story to allwrite@aadl.org.

1st Place Winners receive ($250), 2nd Place ($150) and 3rd Place ($100) in these three categories: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-10, and Grades 11-12

Click here to read the prize winning stories from previous years, or look for your name if you were a Finalist. Author Patrick Jones will discuss his work and announce this year's winners on Saturday, May 21.

Good Luck!