B.E.S.T.

Academy 4th Annual Children’s Literature Writing 

Competition Guidelines 

​1. The story must be written in English by the student and directed to an audience of 5 to 9 year-old
readers.

2. There is no specific topic or subject, the writer is free to select his or her own theme. However, any
entries with grotesque, violent, or scenes not appropriate for the target audience (5 to 9 years old) will
not be considered in the selection of finalists.

3. Students aged 10 to 18 are invited to participate. Each student should only submit one single story as an
entry. Any additional entries from the same student will not be accepted or read.

4. The story must be between 500 and 700 words. Any stories of any length shorter or longer than this
will not be accepted.

5. The author of the story should include the following information in his or her entry: ​Full name, Age,
Grade, Title of Story, Word Count (story only, not including title/name), Name of School, Name of English
Teacher.

6. The story should be original work. Stories that are detected as fully or partially copied will not be
accepted. There is zero tolerance for plagiarism.

7. Stories will be judged on the basis of creativity of content, structure of story (is there a clear plot),
language (word choice, inclusion of descriptive language) and style of writing.

8. You may add illustrations but stories will not be judged based on illustrations.

9. All stories should be typed in size 12 Arial or Times New Roman font.

10. Participants are allowed, and encouraged, to have their stories first grammar checked by their
teachers. The story must be created and written by the student but the teacher may screen the story for
grammar and spelling errors before submission. (Note: Stories using a lot of digital translator features
are normally easily detected and may not have the best use of vocabulary or expressions.)

11. The story must be submitted by ​February 5th, 2021, by 11:59pm​, to the following email:
bestacademyefl@gmail.com​. Entries may be submitted beginning ​January 22nd, 2021 ​though early
submission will not affect judging. Winners will be announced on February 26th, 2021.

If you have any additional questions regarding these guidelines, please contact us.​ ​Best of luck to all of
the students!

​- ​B.E.S.T. Academy Staff