Autumn '24: Writing

Contests

Red tree among muted trees

Autumn '24: Writing

Deadline

Convey the ephemeral beauty of autumn in the genre of your choice, poetry or prose, fiction or nonfiction. Let yourself be inspired by the colors, settings, tones, and traditions of the season. 

[Photo credit: "The Last of Fall" by ckodama24, YWP archive]


It's a complex season of interchangeable names (is it autumn or fall to you?) and back-and-forth weather with its echoes of summer and hints of winter. It's a time of beginnings (a new school year and the range of emotions that go with it, from trepidation to excitement) and endings (falling leaves, shorter days). Share your take on the season!


CONTEST DETAILS

  • Three $75 prizes for writing; three $75 prizes for visual art
  • For ages 13-19. You must have a YWP account (It’s free to join!)
  • Respond to the challenge in any literary genre
  • Must be your original work and not published elsewhere. No AI.
  • No limit to number of submissions
  • Prize winners and honorable mentions will be published in the November 2024 issue of our digital magazine, The Voice.
  • Contest deadline: Oct. 25, 2024


    Click here for the Visual Art Contest

     

Submissions

  • a testament

    autumn, you arrive with a grace so profound, a symphony of colors rising from the ground. you teach us to let go with a dance so free, to release the past, like leaves from a tree.

  • Here's to Autumn

    Autumn, you’re the quiet guest who settles in the corner, pulling the warmth of summer close to your chest, until it’s just a memory, like the way a song lingers in the back of our minds, softly echoing.

  • Autumn, Old Friend

    Hey Autumn, old friend, I’ve missed your gentle sway, With leaves like whispers in the fading light of day. Your cloak’s a patchwork quilt of amber’s sweet embrace, And I wonder if you dance beneath the moon’s soft lace.

  • Autumn's Quiet

    Autumn unfolds with a whispering waltz, a soft, soothing symphony of hues and sounds. The air, crisp and clear, carries the tender echoes of summer’s end, a delicate dance of warmth and chill.

  • Drive

    Take me on a drive

    I'll roll the window down

    stick out my hand

    let it

    soar through the air

    fly on the speed

    fly on the wind.

     

    Take me on a drive

    I'll paint a sketchbook full

  • First leaf

    The first leaf

    is let away

    from the motherly grasp

    of its tree's branches.

     

    It twirls down

    the veins and the webbed leaf between them

    fighting

    gravity

    making it spin

    dip

  • Ember

    From a mere ember

    the amber ignites



     

    From a mere gust

    The speckles of amber spread




    From a mere kindle

    The flock of amber glows



    From a mere day

  • Fall’s Reminder

    The stars begin to realign,

    Opening new doors,

    As summer starts to resign.

    With whispers of love anew,

    Fall changes what we once knew.

    Bringing us a new gentleness.

    One made out of love,

  • If Autumn Were a Person

    Wisps of long brown hair

    escaping a orange knit hat

    Honey brown eyes

    Surrounded by black-rimmed glasses

    Heart-shaped lips

    Lightly covered in lip gloss

    Cream sweater

    Under a green puffy jacket