Submission Guidelines for Budding Writers Contest 2023

Theme and Contest Categories

The overarching theme for this year's contest is "into the future". There are three categories; poetry, short story, and essay with general guidelines on the expectations for submissions. Please go to the landing page for the Budding Writers Contest for more details.

How to Submit a Paper

1. All contestants must create an account on Scholarship@Western using their @uwo email address.

2. Only one submission is accepted per author. This can be in one of two categories.

3. When ready to submit, complete the submission form. The form must be filled out as follows:

  • Input the title of your work
  • Include your full name
  • Choose the category of the submission (described under "Document Type")
  • Select a Creative Commons License. Please see the "Rights and Permissions" heading on the policies page for more information.
  • Include any notes for the judges. Anything under notes will not be evaluated as part of your submission. Information included under this section should only be for guiding the judges with any anomalies in your submission. This section can be left blank
  • Upload the file for your submission. Make sure your paper is in an acceptable format. We can accept papers in Microsoft Word, Rich Text Format (RTF), or Adobe Acrobat (PDF).

    • If you have questions, please contact Saniyah Qureshi via email at squres55@uwo.ca

    Overview of the Process for Selecting the Winners

    After you submit your paper before the deadline on March 5 at 11:59 p.m., our student judges will begin the first round of judging.

    The first round of judges will result in a group of semi-finalists for each category. These submissions will then advance to the next round of judging by our expert judges, and all semi-finalists will be notified of their advancement via email.

    The three category winners and the overall winners for the Budding Writers Contest will be chosen in mid- to late-March (specific date TBD upon reviewing the number of submissions) and the prizes will be awarded at an event held at the end of March.