/* ############### ABOUT PAGE ############### */ ?>
Mark your calendars for our Alumni and Friends 100—Word Microstory Contest—a free writing competition for a variety of age groups. You don’t have to be an Iowa Writers' Workshop grad—or even remember your spelling bee vocabulary words from last year—to participate.
The contest begins at 9 a.m. (CDT) on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, and runs through 4 p.m. (CDT) on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. At the start of the contest, we’ll provide you a selection of two writing prompts to create your microstory. The rest is up to your imagination.
Stories must be 100 words or less, created within the competition period, and include one of the two provided prompts. All entrants will receive the same prompts, which will be posted here at 9 a.m. (CDT) on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. We’ll narrow down the entries to five winners (one from each age category), whose microstories will be posted here on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022.
The contest is free and open to UI alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends. One winner will be selected from each category. The five age categories include:
A winner in each of the four grade school categories will receive an Iowa scribe pack that includes a writing journal, canvas bag, and $25 Bookshop.org gift card. The winner of the adult category will receive a handcrafted wooden pen made from a tree that was located on the University of Iowa campus and a $25 Bookshop.org gift card. In addition, the top entry in each age category—as well as a handful of honorable mentions—will be posted on the Write Now website.
The contest rules will be available on this site on Wednesday, July 6. If you have any questions, email write.now@foriowa.org.
For more inspiration, read submissions from past UI Writing Contest winners. Also, explore some of the University of Iowa’s writing resources.