Teen ETCH

Teen ETCH Creative Writing Contest: Reflections

This contest is now closed. Winners will be announced during our Teen ETCH Anthology Book Launch on June 14, 2025. 

Guelph Public Library and Vocamus Writers Community have partnered once again to offer teens in grades 7 through 12, living in Guelph and Wellington County, the chance to be published in their 2025 Teen ETCH Anthology this June!

Interested participants can enter the 2025 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.

Short story and poetry entries must be 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, your full name, school, grade, phone number and guardian’s name. The cover art design should be submitted as PNG, JPG, or SVG and designed to work vertically leaving space to include title information.

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.

Prizes will be awarded for both short story and poetry submissions. 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. 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. 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.

Content Guidelines

Submissions must be the sole work of the submitter, without substantial contributions from other people or from artificial intelligence. Submissions must not include offensive content, including but not restricted to graphic violence, explicit sexuality, gratuitous profanity, or discriminatory language.

Library Use of Entries

By entering your work, you acknowledge that Guelph Public Library shall have the right to use, modify, reproduce, publish, display, distribute and make derivative works of Entry Materials for promotional or any other purposes.

Original Work

You hereby warrant and represent that (a) you own all rights to all Entry Materials submitted by you; and (b) all such Entry Materials are original works of authorship on your part and have not been copied, in whole or in part, from any other work and do not violate, misappropriate, or infringe any copyright, trademark or other proprietary right of any other person or entity.

For More Information:

Jeremy Luke Hill
Vocamus Writers Community Publisher and Managing Director

Meg Forestell-Page
Guelph Public Library Supervisor of Community Engagement 

2024 Teen ETCH

Poetry

  • Third place is awarded to Charlie Anna Mary Ratcliffe for “Adoring an Artist
  • Second place is awarded to Elianna White for “Everything”
  • First place is awarded to Noah Orine for “The Wonderseeker”

 

Grades 7 to 8

  • Third place is awarded to Erich Lacsamana for “Women in Time”
  • Second place is awarded to SaniaZehra Abedi for “What the Eras Taught Me”
  • First place is awarded to Ishanvi Nair for “Queen of Thorns

 

Grades 9 to10

  • Third place is awarded to Forest Hillis for “Shoot the Arrow”
  • Second place is awarded to Melanie Kruis for “A Dangerous Adventure”
  • First Place is Divya Dasgupta “The End of an Era”

 

Grades 11 to 12

  • Third place is awarded to Scott White for “The Car”
  • Second place is awarded to Kaelin Caporicci for “Between the Lines”
  • First place is awarded to Lily Bitton for “Leaving”
2023 Teen ETCH

Borrow a copy of 2023 Teen ETCH!

Cover Art: Zola Senitt

 

Poetry

First Place: “Gunslinger” by Rory Phelan
Second Place: “Smiles” by Hiba Khan
Third Place: “Falcon of Fire” by Elianna Wylie

Grades 7 to 8:

First Place: “A Song of Souls” by Lauren Zheng
Second Place: “The Dawning” by Piper Caporicci
Third Place: “The Corruption of Progress” by Liam Ruddock

Grades 9 to 10:

First Place: “The Obituary” by Lily Bitton
Second Place: “Little Bunny” by Charlie Ratcliffe
Third Place: “Fire Damage” by Hana Alice Maherali-Caruso

Grades 11 to 12:

First Place: “My First Friend” by Athavi Nishaanthan
Second Place: “They Called Me Katrina” by Julia Pelitis
Third Place: “All the Glitters” by Gwynne Valentine Ross

 

2022 Teen ETCH

Borrow a copy of the 2022 Teen ETCH!

 

Cover Art: Sadie Henry 

 

Grades 7 to 8 Winners

First Place: “The Book Carrier” by Alexis Jurchuk
Second Place: “Inoculation Challenge” by Piper Addison Caporicci
Third Place: “The Tale of Porcelain Throne” by Olivia Wang

 

Grades 9 to 10 Winners

First Place: “The Livestream” by Paisley Thomason
Second Place: “Emma and Lilah” by Lily Bitton
Third Place: “A Broken Promise” by Ailish O’Donnell


Grades 11 to 12 Winners

First Place: “Loved” by Athavi Nishaanthan
Second Place: “Statement” by Pearl Aalbers-Davey
Third Place: “I Spy” by Aisha Zubair

 

Honourable Mentions

“Sunlight in a Jar” by Hiba Khan
“The Desmariate Virus” by Eden Muller
“The Fallacy of Joy” by Mabel Taiwo
“Corona Virus Blues” by Hana Maherali-Caruso

2021 Teen ETCH

Cover Art: Clark Kurtz Favero

Grades 7 to 8 Winners

First Place: “Welcome to the Island” by Olivia Gyuran
Second Place: “Injected” by Kaelin Caporicci
Third Place: “Emerald Island” by Paisley Thomason

 

Grades 9 to 10 Winners

First Place: “Monster” by Athavi Nishaanthan

Second Place: “World in a Box of Matches” by Joseph Schuurman
Third Place:“Sunshine” by Sadie Pattison


Grades 11 to 12 Winners

First Place: “Windward” by Bea Aalbers-Davey
Second Place: “We are Many” by Aluki Chupik-Hall
Third Place: “Rules for the Road when Travelling Europe” by Darcy Tyrrell

 

Honourable Mentions

“The Chase” by Katelyn Heyboer
“Goodbye” by Leah Symons

2020 Teen ETCH

Cover Art Winners:

Bronwen Lee for "Summer"
Jiansen Zhang for "Untitled"

 

Grades 7 to 8 Winners

First Place: "Before the Sunrise" by Desmond Bradshaw
Second Place: "Just Around the Bend" by Mirren Litchfield
Third Place: "Twisted" by Jessie Witherspoon

 

Grades 9 to 10 Winners

First Place: "Him" by Athavi Nishaanthan
Second Place: "Breathe" by Melia Tessel
Third Place: "Chlorine and Other Constants" by Beatrix Aalbers-Davey

 

Grades 11 to 12 Winners

First Place: "Smokes on the Water" by Catherine McCulloch
Second Place: "Lavender Perfume" by Katie Gaskin
Third Place: "The Surface of the Sun" by Aluki Chupik-Hall

Honourable Mentions

"Dark" by Zechariah Nasir
"Here She Lies" by Luka Jamieson
"Lights Out" by Sadie Pattison
"At the Edges" by Alex Petrie
"The Leather Jacket" by Molly Griesbach
"Sand Dollar" by Maeve Brennagh

 

2014 to 2019 Teen ETCH

 Browse and borrow past Teen ETCH Anthologies.

 

Contact(s)

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