Rural Teen Writing Contest celebrates diverse rural cultures
A Purdue University College of Education professor is holding the second annual Literacy In Place Rural Teen Writing Contest to give rural high schoolers the opportunity to tell their stories.
Chea Parton
Purdue alumna Dr. Chea Parton, visiting assistant professor in the College’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, started the contest last year. This year’s theme is “Eat, Dance, and Be Rural” to celebrate diverse rural cultures, highlight the specific cultures within rural communities, and compare how “being rural” differs in various parts of the country.
Why did Parton create the competition?
“The English teachers I was working with were having a hard time finding rural Young Adult (YA) literature,” said Parton. “The more I worked on that project and tried to find stories that are representative of diverse rural identities, the more I’ve realized there are not many stories that reflect these identities, especially from rural Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).”
A rural person herself, Parton became very interested in advocating for rural cultures and communities during her time as a PhD student at University of Texas at Austin. She hopes this contest helps lift up the voices of young members of these communities and lets them know that their stories matter.
“I want people to realize that rural is a culture,” said Dr. Parton. “There are particular cultural practices, there are particular linguistic practices, there are foods and dances and festivals and aspects of rural life that constitute a rural culture, and the people from these rural places have those cultures – and that matters.”
Participating authors must be enrolled in U.S. schools in grades 9-12. Submissions may be any genre of fiction or nonfiction, from poetry to short stories to personal memoirs, and should not exceed 2000 words. The submissions portal opened on July 1 and will close December 1. Winners will be announced in February 2024.
The theme of last year’s contest was “Telling Our Stories: Rural Pasts, Presents, and Futures” and highlighted how rural times have changed and how they will continue to change in the future.
Allison Strange, author of “Fate for a Cat” from Lawndale, North Carolina, was the winner of the 2022 contest. The runner-up was Kevin Evilsizer from Indiana, and an honorable mention was given to Luke Urban, also from Indiana, for his story titled “Roof Top Farmer.”
Judges for this year’s contest include Kalynn Bayron, New York Times bestselling author of This Poison Heart; Pedro Hoffmeister, author of Too Shattered for Mending;and short story author Terena Elizabeth Bell author of the collection Tell Me What You See.
Parton wants to encourage rural teen writers everywhere.
“What it means to be rural in Indiana is not the same as what it means to be rural on the coast of South Carolina or the Pacific Northwest, but there are similarities in our experiences as rural people that connect us all together,” Parton said.
More information:
2023 Rural Teen Writing Contest guidelines and submission portal
2022 Rural writing contest for teens with ‘important stories to tell’
Literacy in Place website
Reading Rural YAL podcast
Source: Dr. Chea Parton, cparton@purdue.edu
Writer: Jonathan Martz, martz0@purdue.edu