Penn State Education Abroad Writing Contest

Description

The Penn State Education Abroad Office, in partnership with Town & Gown magazine, is excited to announce the third annual Penn State Education Abroad Writing Contest. The winning entry will be published in an upcoming issue of Town & Gown. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your creativity and talent, communicate your experiences to a broad audience and be published in a professional magazine.

This contest is open to all current Penn State students who have participated, or are currently participating, in a study abroad program sponsored by the Education Abroad Office. Students from all majors, and all study abroad program types (short-term, long-term, faculty-led), are welcome to participate.

Length: 1,000 – 2,000 words

Format: Times New Roman; 12-point; double-spaced

All entries should be submitted to educationabroad@psu.edu as an attachment in either Microsoft Word format (.doc/.docx) or a Rich Text File (.rtf). In your e-mail, please include the following:

        • “EA Writing Contest” in the subject header
        • First and last name
        • Your e-mail address
        • Semester, year and location of education abroad program (i.e., Fall 2013 Seoul, South Korea)
        • The title of your submission
        • A short description of your submission

Submission Deadline: October 1, 2014

Submission Guidelines

Submissions must reflect the student’s time abroad in a significant way. Beyond that, the guidelines for this contest are largely open-ended to encourage truly inspired submissions. To that end, students are granted creative license to compose stories, essays, etc. that will engage, and appeal to, a broad audience.  Both fiction and non-fiction pieces will be considered. Regardless of the type of writing, submissions should be in clear, intelligent prose with no major spelling or grammatical errors.

Accompanying photos and/or illustrations are welcome, provided they are the exclusive property of the student. Submitting a photo and/or an illustration does not guarantee that it will be published.  

What not to write: “My time abroad was amazing because …” While we love to hear that you had an amazing experience, it should not be the primary objective of your writing submission. If you wish to convey what you consider the best qualities of your host country, follow the writing guideline of “show, don’t tell.” In other words, don’t tell us that you had an amazing time, show us what was amazing by using vivid descriptions of people and places.

What to write: (Please note that these are only examples, and not an exhaustive list of topics) A first-person, descriptive account of peaceful protests in Madrid, Spain; a fictional story based on people and places in Japan; An analysis of a public issue in Germany that reflects a similar issue in State College. Be creative. Think of unique ways to share your experience with the State College community in a meaningful manner.

• Check out Melissa and Katherine's entries from last year's Penn State Education Abroad Writing Contest from pages 64- 71.

Disclosure

The Penn State Education Abroad Office will have full rights to use and circulate all writing submissions, with attribution to the author.