is for students in grades five through eight.
Students are invited to submit a story they have
written and illustrated on their own. Books are judged based on
quality and originality of the ILLUSTRATIONS and STORY.

Read about the details and the rules below:

Some of our favorite children's books were written and illustrated by one person, for example: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss; The Polar Express, written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg; and Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. This competition is about fostering the narrative creativity, both visual and verbal, of children. Increased self worth and a sense of accomplishment will surely result. (And besides, it?s a lot of fun!)

1st place: $100 cash, plus the winning book will be published on this website for one year. (Plus one or two other things.)

2nd Place: $25 gift certificate for art supplies. (Plus one or two other things.)

3rd Place: $10 gift certificate for art supplies. (Plus one or two other things.)

Classroom Award: The teacher whose class has the highest number of participants (not number of entries, and not percentage of participants) will win $300 for their classroom. Only one classroom prize will be awarded (junior and senior contests included.) A teacher must have at least twelve students participate in order to qualify for this award. If no class has twelve or more entries, no award will be given. Separate classes may NOT combine under one teacher to increase the number of participants. In the event of a tie, the award will go to the tied class with the most winning entries. If this fails to resolve the tie, the tie will be broken by drawing the teacher?s name from a hat. The committee may choose whether or not to give a second place classroom award.

For the 2004-2005 school year, students in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades may participate. These students should be from ten to fourteen years of age. Exceptions will be considered on an individual basis.

Entries MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE Tuesday, March 1st, 20 05. Prizes will be awarded at the awards ceremony on Saturday, March 19th at 10:00 a.m. in the Bullock Room of the Provo Public Library at Academy Square. Book entries should be picked up at the awards ceremony.

Entries may be any size UP TO 14 inches by 9.5 inches when the book is closed. Entries larger than 14 inches by 9.5 inches WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED NOR RETURNED.

You may submit UP TO TWO entries for the competition.

In order to help cover the cost of this competition, a $5 entry fee will be charged FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL ENTRY in the Senior Division. However, we don?t want anyone to not participate based on inability to pay the entry fee. Students who need to may enter at no cost by checking the ?Scholarship Box? on the entry form.

Please mail or deliver entries to:        J. Kirk Richards
Young PictureBook Contest
1059 Briar Avenue
Provo, Utah 84604

Entries may be picked up at the Awards Ceremony or after, at the above address. Entries not picked up by December 15th WILL BE GONE FOREVER. If you will be out of town, you may include a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage for your entry to be returned by mail.

Children should write their own stories and create their own pictures. Parents may give editorial suggestions and help with organization and presentation, but they should not actually write text for their children or paint or draw for their children. Also, books containing borrowed or copyrighted characters will be ineligible for the first place award.

Please tell your friends about this contest. The more entries we get, the better the prizes will be next year. Also, you could help your class win the Classroom Award.

You can download a PDF version of the entry form HERE.

or request an entry form by mail:        J. Kirk Richards
Young PictureBook Entry Form
1059 Briar Avenue
Provo, Utah 84604