Contest Information

Middle and high school student writers can be recognized with cash prizes for their work by entering the Century Fence Middle and High School Essay and Poetry Contest and the Duane Stein Short Story Writing Contest. Get complete details and entry information by clicking on the links.

Century Fence Middle &High School Student Writing Contest

This contest is open to all middle school and high school students in Waukesha County. Students can submit an original essay or poem based on the theme listed below. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be chosen from both the middle school and high school categories for essays and poems.

Prizes: 1st place – $250 2nd place –$175 3rd place–$75

The Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books is returning to an in person festival this year on Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov.5.  The Century Fence Writing Contest Winners Awards Celebration will be at 5 pm Friday, Nov.4 at the UWM at Waukesha Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. 

Century Fence Contest Instructions 2022

In the news lately, there has been a lot of discussion and controversy over the banning of books, particularly for inclusion in elementary, middle, and high school libraries and curriculum. We are looking for essays and poems that deal with this topic. Please consider the following as you prepare to write your piece, but your writing does not need to be confined to these questions:

1. How do you feel about book banning? Are you for it? Against it? Have mixed feelings?
2. Have you been affected personally by a book being banned?
3. Have you ever read a book, and then later, it was banned? How did that make you feel? 
4. Have you ever deliberately chosen to read a book that was banned?

Let us know what you think! 

1. Contest entries should be thoughtful, well written essays of 600-750 words on the assigned topic for high school students and up to 400-500 words for middle school students. Poems can be of any length but should not exceed the word limits of 750 words for high school students or 500 words for middle school students. Entries should be single spaced and may be typed or legibly handwritten.
   
2. Submissions must be of unpublished original work.  An essay or poem that has won a contest elsewhere will not be accepted.
   
3. Entries should reflect the original words and ideas of the writer. Quotations from an outside source or author must give be credit to that source by citing the author, publication, title and date.  Plagiarism will be considered cause for elimination.
   
4. To be eligible, each entry must be accompanied by the official Festival Contest Entry Form. This form must be filled out completely and signed both by the student and a parent or guardian.  By completing and signing the entry form, a student certifies that it his or her own work. Please submit only one essay. Multiple entries will not be considered.
   
5. All entries must be received by October 1, 2022. 
   
6. Entries should be mailed as follows: 

2022 Century Fence Student Writing Contest
Attn: Southeast WisconsinFestival of Books
UWM at Waukesha Foundation,Inc.1500N.UniversityDr.
Waukesha, WI53188
Or emailed to: info@sewibookfest.com 

Duane Stein Short Story Contest 

Sponsored by

• Wisconsin middle and high school students can enter an original short story of up to 2500 words
• Prizes for 1st ($2000), 2nd ($1000), and 3rd ($500) place selected by a panel

Duane Stein Short Story Contest Information

This competition is in honor of Duane Stein, a beloved educator in the Waukesha School District from 1974 to 2011. Stein is well-known for his enthusiasm and encouragement in a variety of classes and in leading the Academic Decathlon Teams at Waukesha North High School and Waukesha West High School respectively.

First place $2,000
Second place $1,000
Third place $500

All winners will be announced, and awards accepted at the 2022 Southeast Wisconsin Book Festival at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Waukesha. The awards ceremony will take place during the opening reception on November 4^st at 5 p.m. Preliminary judges for this contest will be former students of Stein’s, and the final decision will be made by Stein himself.

For further information on the competition and awards contact shortstorymatch@gmail.com.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

• Student must be a Wisconsin resident, currently enrolled in a middle school, high school, online school, or home-schooled and under the age of 19
• Length of story: up to 2500 words
• Submissions must be in English
• Any FICTION genre
• Original, unpublished work, including online
• Submitted as Word document (.doc), Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced, one-inch margins
• Name, address, phone number, email in the upper left-hand corner of first page
• Page number in upper right
• Must have THE END after story text
• Email submissions between Sept. 1 and Oct 1, 2022 to: shortstorymatch@gmail.com