Challenge yourself to continue creating this summer!

This summer, use thoughtful prompts from Scholastic Awards alumni as a springboard to create your next great work. Whether it be a short story, a painting, a poem, a sculpture, or another category of work, we want to see and hear what you’re creating this summer.

What is Start.Write.Now?

• Every month from April through August, check in for a post featuring an illustrious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Alumnus. Our featured Alumnus will share about what they’ve been up to since receiving their Award, how they use their creativity in life now, and share a prompt that inspires them to create their work!
• After the prompt is posted, anyone interested in sharing their work will have 2 to 3 weeks to email us their new work. Even if it’s still a work in progress, we want to see it! Be sure to check the deadline for emailing in your work.
• **Submitted works will not be judged!** This is not a competition, but a chance to share your latest piece. All participants will automatically be entered in a random drawing to receive a $25 gift card!
• A selection of the pieces, and our gift card recipients, will be posted to the blog at the beginning of the next month.

How do I participate?

1. Keep an eye out for our summer Start.Write.Now posts.
2. Create a work in response to the prompt! Start writing, drawing, painting, sculpting… whatever your craft may be!
3. Email your response! Email us at ral@artandwriting.org using the subject line “RAL Start.Write.Now.” Attach your work as either a photo (.jpg or .png), video (.mp4 or .mov), or PDF. In your email, include your name, city, state, email address, and a brief description of how the prompt inspired your work. If you have your own website or social media account that you want us to link to in order to better credit your work, please include that in your email as well.
4. Check back at the end of the month to see what your fellow RAL-ers created in response to the prompt, and to find out who won the gift card drawing!
5. Stay on top of Start.Write.Now by signing up here to join our Start.Write.Now. email list! You will receive notifications when new challenges go live and reminders for upcoming response deadlines. Never miss your chance to participate again!

Who can participate?

• All students in grades 7-12 (ages 13 and up) who live in the United States, a U.S. territory, a U.S. military base, or Canada are eligible to email in work, and be posted on the blog. Only students who reside in the United States are eligible to be entered in the random gift card drawing.
• All participants must be 13 years of age or older. Students must follow the same eligibility criteria as pertains to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Copyright & Plagiarism

All work must be original, and created by the person emailing in the work. Please see the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards copyright and plagiarism policy for more information about what it means to create an original work.

We reserve the right to share only select works on the blog, and disqualify participants who may violate the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards copyright and plagiarism policy. All works posted on the blog will be credited to the writer/artist who submitted the work. The RAL blog does not have exclusive rights to the pieces submitted by participants.

Additional Terms

By submitting a work via email to Start.Write.Now, you are consenting to having that work shared on the RAL blog, along with your name, city, and state. For all students under the age of 18, by submitting a work via email to Start.Write.Now you are confirming that a parent/guardian has consented to share your work, name, city, and state on the blog. All participants understand that this blog is a live, searchable website and all posted works are public.

There is no purchase required to participate in Start.Write.Now.

Am I able to submit my Start.Write.Now piece to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards?

Absolutely! We are thrilled that you’re using your summer to continue creating and preparing for the upcoming Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Use Start.Write.Now as your starting point to create and submit something amazing.

Looking for more opportunities to be recognized? Students of African descent are invited to participate in local and national ACT-SO competitions! NAACP’s ACT-SO is a community-based program that provides forum for youth of African descent to receive recognition for their achievements in academics, literary arts, visual arts, and the sciences.