I'm entering a writing contest!

Grandpa always says I’m one of the funniest kids he knows – and that’s saying something since my grandfather knows a lot of people in the community.

Grandpa also knows I like to write, so he told me about the Martyn Godrey Young Writers’ Award, where the grand prize is a trip to a summer writing camp called WordsWorth. I’m all over that.

I need to write a humourous short story, anywhere between 500 and 1500 words. But the best part is that the story must somehow include the colour yellow. Not just any yellow, but canola yellow.

When I look outside at all of the snow, it’s hard to imagine the colour of Grandpa’s canola field – so I’m going to do some research. My first stop will be the Alberta Canola Producers’ Commission website.

Can you imagine if I win the contest? Of all the entries, two young writers (you have to be in junior high school in Alberta) will be picked to win a trip to the camp, an author visit to his or her school, and a copy of the new book Fields of Home.

Want to enter the contest with me?

Read the official rules at the Young Alberta Book Society’s website and then check back here weekly. I’ll be posting writing tips, and some of the research I find on the colour yellow.

But hurry! The contest deadline is May 6, 2011 and the first 100 kids to enter will get a free Martyn Godfrey book – and something yellow.

Happy writing!

-    Chase Superman Duffy