Inkblot Writing Contest
Inkblot Writing Contest is open to any Maine students in Grades 4 through 12. Students are invited to participate in Fiction and Poetry categories for each of the following age groups: Grades 4 - 5, Grades 6 - 8 and Grades 9 - 12.
Submissions are now closed for the 2024 Inkblot Writing Contest. View our winners below. The third annual Inkblot Writing Contest returns this autumn! Specific dates and details will be announced this spring. Submit the form below to be notified about the 2025 Inkblot Writing Contest.
Inkblot Writing Contest Winners
Submission Requirements
Entries are free. Students may submit one short story up to 3,500 words, or up to three poems (of no more than 10 total pages). You may submit in both short story and poetry categories, but you may only enter each category once.
Submissions may not have been previously published online or in print. Entries will be read blind, so please do not include your name on your submission. Ideally, submissions are typed, but a legibly handwritten scan is also acceptable. Teachers may submit work on behalf of students.
Get Notified About Inkblot
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High School Fiction: Judge
Rae Chalmers grew up reading Harriet the Spy and Nancy Drew mysteries. She and her best friend would bike through their neighborhood with notepads and pencils, jotting down license plates and clues for crimes that surely would be committed. She is the author of the popular middle grade Oxbow Island Gang series that celebrates the values and ecosystems of small island communities.
High School Poetry: Judge
Lauren Saxon is a queer, Black poet and engineer living in Portland, ME. She loves her cats, her Subaru, and being chronically online. Lauren's work is featured in Barrelhouse, Empty Mirror, Across the Margin, Homology Lit, and more. Her debut chapbook, You're My Favorite won the 2023 Maine Literary Award for Book of Poetry, and is out now with Thirty West Publishing.
A school of thought and exploration
In a complex world, education requires self-knowledge as well as world- knowledge. At Maine Coast Waldorf School, we believe one enhances the other and allows students to find their place in the world. See it for yourself at an upcoming Open House for Early Childhood, Grades 1 through 8 or High School.