FICTION
Poem
Short Story
NON-FICTION
Essay
Creative Non-Fiction
Fiction provides an opportunity to recreate the experiences of the past through the intimate perspective of real or imagined people. Whether you choose to write poetry or a short story, you should ground your work in historical fact. Begin with research into an event, a person, or a place that intrigues you and allow the details you discover to shape your creativity.
Your Challenge: Write a poem or a short story that engages imaginatively with the history of the Ark-La-Tex. Poetry and short stories will be judged separately.
Word Limits: Contestants are limited to one poem or one short story. Poems are to be no more than 40 lines, regardless of age group. Short story word limits are dependent on age group: (a) Elementary – up to 500 words, (b) Middle School – up to 1000 words, (c) High School and College/University – up to 1500 words.
General Guidelines: All stories are to be produced in Times New Roman 12 point, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Your title should be centered at the top of the first page and included as a header on all following pages. Your name, address, contact details, and any other identifying information must NOT appear in the document. This information will be included on the entry form.
Only stories that are previously unpublished and unplaced in any other competition are eligible. We welcome simultaneous submissions. Please notify HARK immediately if your story is accepted elsewhere, and we will withdraw your entry from the competition.
Entries may be published by HARK online and in our Journal. Completion of the entry form releases first publication rights to HARK. Subsequent to publication by HARK, copyright reverts to the author.
SUB-CLASSES
A1: Poem
A2: Short Story
This class offers the serious historian an opportunity to immerse himself/herself in the history of the Ark-La-Tex to produce an essay or a carefully researched piece of creative non-fiction --- a lost diary entry by one of the founders of your region, a fragment of a memoir, a letter, or a petition to city or state governance. While too little has been written on this history of our region, there are some wonderful primary resources to guide and inspire you.
Your Challenge: Write a researched essay or a researched piece of creative nonfiction that engages in detail with an aspect of the history of the Ark-La-Tex. Make sure that you acknowledge all your sources correctly, following either MLA (in-text citation and a Works Cited page) or Chicago (footnotes and a bibliography). Creative non-fiction need not use in-text citation or footnotes but should conclude with a bibliography of sources consulted.
Word Limits: Word limits are dependent on age group: (a) Elementary – up to 500 words, (b) Middle School – up to 1000 words, (c) High School and College/University – up to 1500 words.
General Guidelines: All stories are to be produced in Times New Roman 12 point, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Your title should be centered at the top of the first page and included as a header on
all following pages. Your name, address, contact details, and any other identifying information must NOT appear in the document. This information will be included on the entry form.
Only stories that are previously unpublished and unplaced in any other competition are eligible. We welcome simultaneous submissions. Please notify HARK immediately if your story is accepted elsewhere, and we will withdraw your entry from the competition.
Entries may be published by HARK online and in our Journal. Completion of the entry form releases first publication rights to HARK. Subsequent to publication by HARK, copyright reverts to the author.
SUB-CLASSES
B1: Essay
B2: Creative Non-Fiction