- Each teacher may nominate short stories from their students to represent their school.
- Home-school co-ops representing more than ten students will be treated as a school.
- Home-schooled students not affiliated with a local school or co-op may submit directly to the contest.
- Story length: 500 to 4,000 words. (Stories are evaluated solely on writing quality, not by length)
- Authors must attend or be home-schooled in an Upper Peninsula School District.
- Teachers, parents, and others may offer suggestions and comments, but all writing must be the author’s work. In the real literary world, editors will offer suggestions. This is to be a learning experience.
- Teachers, parents, and others may point out spelling and grammatical errors on the finished manuscript, but the author is responsible for understanding and correcting all errors. This is to be a learning experience. In the real literary world, copyeditors will be correcting these errors. Stories with profanity or vulgar language will be returned for revision. We expect polished submissions.
- Short stories must be submitted electronically in MS Word (.doc or .docx) format by January 31st. (Paper submissions are not accepted)
- Authors will retain the copyright to their work, but UPPAA reserves first publishing rights for eighteen months after submission. Winning entries will be published in the annual U.P. Reader.
Senior Division
- First-place winner in the high school division will receive $250.
- Second place winner will receive $100.
- Third place winner will receive $50.
- Winning school will receive a trophy for display during the coming year.
Junior Division
- First prize in the middle-grade contest is $150.
- Second prize is $75.
- Third prize is $25.
- Winning school will receive a trophy for display during the coming year.
