Short Story Writing Overview

The voice of young people’s creative literary imagination that reveals an insight into their critical thinking within the boundaries set by short story conventions.  The key to language learning and developing proficiency in a language is in writing, especially in the field of creative imaginative expression.

Details (Please see this and other information as well on the links above)

2023 Theme

The theme for this year is Family. Students will be expected to include this theme in their stories.

Guidelines

• Open to students from ESU member schools and organisations
• Age limit: 12 to 19 years of age
• Junior Category: ages 12-15 years and
• Senior Category: ages 16-19 years
• Competition submission deadline : 18 May 2023, midnight
• All submissions must be typed in
  • Font : Times New Roman
  • Size : 12
  • Spacing : 1.5
• Short story should be at least 450 words but not exceed 1200 words and must be based on 2023 theme “Family”
• 2023 Story should use one of the images provided to be incorporated into the story
• 2023 Story MUST begin with this sentence:
  •          Mother always said, “Be good and nice things will happen.
• Submissions must include a cover page with
  • Name of student
  • Name of school/organisation
  • Title of short story
• Every typed page must contain title of short story as a header
  (Title is based on 2023 theme “Family” however is not the title)
• Send registered participant’s entry to esu@esu.cl by 18 May to be included in Round 1 of Judging. ESU judging will take place throughout the end of May and CWC Semifinalists will be announced 1 June.
• On 10 June ESU is planning a CWC Final Event (in person) which will require all semifinalist participants in both Junior and Senior Categories to make travel arrangements to attend the full day Semifinals/Final Judging/ Workshop Activities/ Awards with the venue to be announced within the Santiago area.
• ESU encourages each school to organise their own interschool competition, throughout the entire campus or targeted grade levels/classrooms.  Complete the suggested writing activity and have school staff and students select the final candidate that will represent the school as the participant in the Junior Category (ages 12-15 years) and the final candidate that will represent the school as the participant in the Senior Category (ages 16-19 years).  Thus, each school could have 1 or 2 student participants that will be registered as the school participant(s) for the 2023 ESU CWC.
• Participants must provide original works that have not been published elsewhere.  As part of the registration,  entries must be validated as original works. *Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, and  by incorporating parts into your work without full acknowledgment. Entries must also  be wholly original, not manufactured with use of any digitalized artificial intelligence programmes.  Participants who breach the rules relating to registration, eligibility, themes or the conduct of rounds may be disqualified. If the ESU has reason to believe an entry or sections of it have been used in a previous competition, we reserve the right to disqualify the participant from the competition.

Entries to be sent to this email (esu@esu.cl)

The ESU Chile website updates are ongoing for the current academic school year.

Please reach out to esu@esu.cl for any specific information that you require that is not yet found on our site.