The Mycenaean

The Raleigh Fine Arts Society Literary Contest is a short story writing competition held for high school students in Wake County. The contest starts Oct 3, 2011, and ends Jan 11, 2012. The short story must have a maximum of 5,000 words, be typed and double spaced, and have a 12 pt font. The stories must be submitted into the contest by the students’ English teachers, no later than Jan 19, 2012.

Students in English classes at Leesville, as well as creative writing classes, are submitting entries into the contest. Cam Bachelor, senior, talks about her experience writing a short story and entering it in the competition.

“We spent two to three weeks on it, doing rough drafts and peer editing. It’s my first time writing a short story, so it was hard but pretty fun.”

While there are over 800 entries into the competition, Bachelor thinks her story is different than most.

“The title is ‘You’re Okay.’ It’s about a guy who starts going crazy and shows his gradual transformation. In the beginning, you see his normal life and then he starts having blackouts and going crazy. My plot is very different and unique, which I think is good,” said Bachelor.

The winners will receive monetary awards–for best short story overall: first place, $300; second place, $200, for each grade level: first place,  $150; second place, $100, as well as other various awards, such as the Dave Patton award: $100 for the best story written by a varsity athlete.

The winners will be asked to attend a writing workshop, and following that the finalists, their parents, English teacher and principal will be invited to attend an awards ceremony April 30, 2012.