Dear Young Reviewers:
Many of our reviewers said that knowing that an eight-year-old helped write The Sword of Darrow inspired them to want to write themselves. In fact, we received that message from so many reviewers that we decided to do something to encourage writing.
We have raised $5,000 for a scholarship contest. Here is how it works. Any parent or grandparent (or other relative for that matter) can team with a child between the ages of 7 and 14 to write a short story. The short story can have no more than 7500 words. All entries must be typed and double spaced.
Alex and I will judge the stories. The winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship in the form of a “College America” 529 College Savings plan. This plan allows for tax favored distributions for qualifying post-secondary education expenses for any accredited schools in the United States. Parent or legal guardian will be designated as account owner for the benefit of the child member of the writing team. All distributions are subject to 529 plan rules.
Entries should be mailed to the address below with a postmark no later than August 30, 2011. We will also accept entries over this email.
The Sword of Darrow Scholarship Contest
2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 102
PMB 290
Arlington, VA 22201
The winner will be announced Thursday, October 27th, in the home town of the winner. Press will be invited to the presentation.
If you are interested in competing no need to notify us. Just begin work and have your story ready by the deadline. The contest and the rules are also described on our website at www.swordofdarrow.com.
For Alex and I, the process of writing The Sword of Darrow together was great fun and an achievement both of us will cherish the rest of our lives. Prior to writing this book with my son, I had never even aspired to write fiction. So you never know what talents you might have.
Thanks again for being a reviewer and I hope that when we go to our mailbox in August, we will get to hear from you again.
Hal Malchow
P.S. We will confirm by email or mail the receipt of all entries. If you submit an entry and do not receive confirmation, please email us to let us know. We have learned that the postal service makes mistakes like everyone else and we want to be sure that all entries are read and fairly considered.
Unfortunately, Clayton is not yet old enough to try for the scholarship, but maybe we'll write ourselves a story anyway!! :-)
