Judges of the Reader’s Digest writing competition, writing homework help

Goal

You are entering a short story writing competition.

Role

Author

Audience

Judges of the Reader’s Digest writing competition

Situation

Your best friend was surfing the net last night and came across a website for the 2008 Reader’s Digest writing competition. Excited, she drops you an instant message that says, “You’ve GOT to check out http://www.writersdigest.com/short. $3000 1st prize!” You were not at your computer last night, sadly, but the message was still on the screen when you got to the computer this morning. You click to the site and find out that you can indeed win $3000.00, but you need to get moving, because the piece has to be submitted in two months. You want to make sure you have the thing written well in advance, so you have time to dream about it, edit it, and finalize it before you send it off.

Product or Performance

You will upload your entry to the forum where we can all comment on your story. You are highly encouraged to submit the piece to Reader’s Digest for consideration in the contest.

Standards for Success

A successful project will:

• Follow the pyramidal structure of a short story
• Contain strong characters that speak for themselves
• A conflict that engages the audience and suggests its own “so what?”
• Contain no obvious grammar or formatting errors – it must be ready for submission in the contest