sort of like the five obstructions, except in longhand
Beloved upstart writing center 826 Seattle wants to keep aspiring kid writers from developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Although their associated retail front, Greenwood Space Travel Supply Store, might suggest a more high-tech contest, they’re teaming up with old-school journal producer Paperblanks to sponsor a writing contest:
“Writing longhand is becoming something of a lost art for people today and can be good practice for aspiring writers,” said Dave Eggers, founder of 826 Valencia and McSweeney’s literary journal. “We are thrilled to partner with Paperblanks to sponsor the first annual Three Element writing contest and provide kids with an opportunity to creatively express themselves while sharing their work with others.” [marketwire]
Sherman Alexie and a slate of other locals will judge the handwritten entries — which must incorporate references to a famous author, space travel, and jelly donuts — next month and the $3,000 grand prize will be awarded in December. Although it’s not required,[pdf] writing with one of those astronaut ink pens certainly couldn’t hurt one’s chances.
update/clarification/maybe I should have read the rules/thanks steph: the final draft needs to be typed, but I suppose that the kids can use the sponsor’s notebooks for their tortured first drafts. and the prize money has to go to education, not junk food.
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But the pdf says that the entries must by typed and double-spaced…
oh, right. I guess maybe I should have read the fine print before setting up a low-tech / high-tech premise. Too bad, I think it would have been funny if one of the requirements was legible handwriting.
It totally would have been way cooler. But did you realize that schools aren’t even teaching longhand anymore? Not that I remember where I read that or anything, so it’s a completely unsubstantiated statement…
The winners will be announced at 826’s fabulous, still-in-the-planning-stages 1st Birthday Party by Mr. Alexie himself. There is one thing I know for sure, jelly donuts will be abundant…
Oh yeah. The party is going down on Saturday, December 2nd.