Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest – Judging Role Description

About the Contest

The Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest is an annual competition that invites young writers ages 9-18 to submit their short stories, poems and comics for consideration. Winning entries are published in a bilingual anthology called carte blanche. Participants are free to write about anything they can imagine.

The contest categories are:

• Poetry (English) for ages 9-12
• Poetry (English) for ages 13-18
• Poésie (French) for ages 9-12
• Poésie (French) for ages 13-18
• Short Stories (English) for ages 9-12
• Short Stories (English) for ages 13-18
• Nouvelles (French) for ages 9-12
• Nouvelles (French) for ages 13-18
• Comics (English) for ages 9-12
• Comics (English) for ages 13-18
• Bandes dessinées (French) for ages 9-12
• Bandes dessinées (French) for ages 13-18

Judging Qualifications

We are looking for contest judges who:

• Live in the National Capital Region or Host Nations areas
• Are a published author or professional storyteller of similar status
• Write for youth audiences or have strong experience working with youth
• Have a strong desire to work with youth
• Can commit to the contest timelines and workload

Strong experience with a contest category is an asset.

Judging Role

Contest judges for Awesome Authors are expected to do the following:

• Commit to delivering two (2) writing workshops [60 minutes] at OPL branches or online during the months of January and February. Workshop content is developed by the presenting judge but should include tips and tricks for participants to better their own writing and be related to the contest category and age group the judge will be evaluating.
• Conduct category judging of contest entries in March and April. Judges review all submissions in their category or categories, select and rank their top three (3) choices [plus one alternate], and provide some feedback to each winning entry [2-3 sentences].
• Judges may also have to disqualify entries that:
• are over the 1000-word limit or 3-page limit for comics
• contain the author’s name in the submitted document
• show use of generative-AI in the creation of the work
• Attend the book launch party in November/December [if possible] to meet the winners in person and celebrate the publication of the anthology.

Judges will be paid an honourarium of $1500 for participating in one year of the contest.

Workload and Timelines

Youth Writing Workshops

These workshops are delivered during the contest period [January & February] in branch or online – usually on a Saturday morning [10:30 to11:30 am] or afternoon [2 to 3 pm] or during the week [Monday to Thursday] in the evening [7 to 8 pm]. Dates and times are negotiated between OPL and the judge to meet the availability of participants who are in school most of the day.

Contest Judging

The number of participants varies from year to year. After the contest concludes, OPL staff will prepare the entries for judging – eliminating duplicate entries and disqualifying entries that are over the 1000-word limit [poetry & short stories] - and prepare a blind list of entries with links to the submissions.

Judges will have six (6) weeks to review all entries in their assigned categories. The workload will depend on the number of entries in each category. For the past several years, contest categories have been grouped as below.

Term of Service

We are looking to establish 3 terms of service for Awesome Authors judging. Please indicate if you are looking to apply for a 1-year, 2-year, or 3-year term in your application.

You are welcome to apply even if you are currently an Awesome Author judge or have participated in this contest in the past.

Please fill out the form below to apply to be an Awesome Author judge.