The Guelph Public Library and Vocamus Writers Community are excited to partner once again to offer teens in grades 7 through 12, living in Guelph and Wellington County, the chance to be published in the 2025 Teen ETCH Anthology.

Interested participants can enter the Teen ETCH Creative Writing contest by submitting a short story and/or poetry piece in 1,500 words or less on the theme of “Reflections.” Participants can also submit an original art design for the book cover image.

There is no entry fee required but all submissions must be electronically received by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 31, 2025 to teens@guelphpl.ca. Short story and poetry entries must be in your own original writing, 1,500 words or less, typed and single spaced. Please do not submit your stories as a PDF. Your submission must include the title of your story and/or poetry, your full name, school, grade, phone number and guardian’s name.

All submissions will be judged by Librarians and local industry professionals. Finalists will then be paired with a local author mentor in early April 2025, who will share creative writing techniques to help polish their submission for final judging. Winners shall be chosen based upon creativity, originality, style, grammar and spelling. The decision of the judges is final. All participants who enter a submission will be contacted about whether they are a finalist by the end of April 2025.

Prizes will be awarded for short story and poetry submissions as well as the selected book cover image. The top three entries in each of the following categories will receive prizes: Grades 7 to 8, Grades 9 to 10, Grades 11 to 12, and poetry selections over all grade categories. A prize will also be awarded to the book cover image winner. Thanks to a generous donation from Kiwanis Club of Guelph, the total value of all prizes will be over $2,000 and will consist of writing and art supplies from Wyndham Art Supplies. The chances of winning are dependent on the number of completed entries received. Winners will be announced during our Teen ETCH Anthology Book Launch on June 14, 2025.

For More Information:

Jeremy Luke Hill
Vocamus Writers Community Publisher and Managing Director

Meg Forestell-Page
Guelph Public Library Supervisor of Community Engagement