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High school juniors can win cash for storytelling
STORY TOOLS 
More from LifestyleThe California Arts Council and Ventura County Arts Council invite all Ventura County high school juniors in public or private schools to enter the My California Story Slam short-story competition.
The goal of the contest is to encourage young people to use knowledge of their lives and emotional journeys to create literature.
Entrants should write a short story that expresses an event or time in their lives when all their emotions were clear to them — a time when they said to themselves, "I need to remember this."
You can write about a painful experience or a loving one, a "glory" story or a meaningful realization. This is an opportunity to express the whole experience through writing, exploring what the experience was like from the inside out.
The story must have a beginning, middle and end, but doesn't need a conclusion. The purpose is to weave a story about an experience, how you felt about it and how you sensed others felt about it.
Stories will be judged first for their ability to evoke the moment of a personal experience and a sense of meaning or depth of feeling. Then, each story will be reviewed for personal style. All stories must be no more than 800 words, and only one story can be submitted per student.
The postmark deadline for submissions is June 2. Winners, who will be announced in September, each will receive $500, and each winner's school will receive $500 for the school library.
Winners will be asked to accept awards at a public meeting and allow their stories to be used by the California Arts Council for promotion and publishing.
For complete guidelines and a submission form, visit the California Arts Council's Web site at http://www.cac.ca.gov. For local assistance, call the Ventura County Arts Council at 658-2213.
— From staff reports
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