2008-2009 Student Writing Contest

TransitionsAbroad.com hosts an annual student writing contest for all currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students, students who have graduated within the past year, and students currently on leave from school are eligible.

For this year's contest, the winning student submission will be awarded $500, the second place winner will be awarded $150, and the third place winner $100. All winning pieces will be published on the TransitionsAbroad.com website. Runner-up winners will be awarded $50 and will be published on TransitionsAbroad.com.

The title "Transitions" is meant to suggest the changes in perception and understanding, as well as in place, that result from cultural immersion travel. Transitions Abroad has long featured regular Student to Student Advice, Student Participant Reports, Internships Abroad and Student Volunteer Service Learning articles, where students share information and experience with other students contemplating educational travel abroad, whether formal study abroad, internships, volunteering, or short-term work abroad.

What We Are Looking For in the Student Writing Contest

Think about what you were looking for when you were planning to travel abroad as a student:

• What did you need to know?
• Once you were abroad, what did you wish you had known before you left?
• Since you returned, how have you been able to fit what you did and learned abroad into your life—academic, career, and otherwise?
• Think of yourself as an adviser or counselor and your reader as a student like yourself before you decided to study abroad.
• Be specific: Vague and flowery evocations of the place(s) you were and what a wonderful time you had there are not helpful to someone preparing for his or her own trip.
• Think of yourself as a journalist seeking to tell a story with as much objectivity as possible in order to reach a wide and educated audience.
• If you write about your experience as a student with a specific program, remember that the appropriateness of the program depends upon the individual. If you write about one program or independent activity, please provide a list of similar programs or opportunities you researched for your reader to choose from.
• Emphasize essential practical information such as how you selected a program or arranged your own independent study or job or internship.
• Optionally provide photographs which will help evoke what you experienced abroad and inspire others to do so..

* Well-researched supporting material and annotated web links in sidebars greatly increases the likelihood of selection as a winner; we cannot emphasize enough the importance of providing others practical information which they can use.

Think of yourself as an adviser or counselor and your reader as someone like yourself before you went abroad. Be specific and to the point: Narrative descriptions of your own experiences and responses to them (diaries) are not generally helpful to someone preparing for their own trip unless your descriptions make clear how the reader can plan and carry out a similar program. If you write about a specific program (a “Participant Report”), be critical but remember that the appropriateness of the program depends upon the individual. What was right (or perhaps wrong) for you might be wrong (or right) for another student. If possible, provide examples of similar programs or opportunities for your reader to choose from.

Word Count

1,000-3,000 words.

Student Writing Contest Deadline

The Contest begins May 15th, 2008, and all entries must be received by March 1st, 2009. Transitions Abroad Publishing, Inc. will require first-time North American rights for all submissions which are accepted as contest winners and for publication. In addition, Transitions Abroad Publishing, Inc. will reserve the right to reprint the story in a future publication. The writer may republish the unedited submission as desired after initial publication on TransitionsAbroad.com.

Winners will be chosen on or about March 15th, 2009 and notified by phone, mail, or e-mail by April 1, 2009 for publication by May 1, 2009 or at such time as all winners have received and cashed payment.

Student Writing Contest Terms

• There is no entry fee required for submissions.
• Decisions of the judges are final.
• Transitions Abroad Publishing, Inc. is not responsible for late, lost, misdirected, incomplete, or illegible e-mail or for any computer-related, online, or technical malfunctions that may occur in the submission process.
• Submissions are considered void if illegible, incomplete, damaged, irregular, altered, counterfeit, produced in error, or obtained through fraud or theft.
• Submissions will be considered made by an authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry.
• The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners – along with any other runners-up accepted for publication – will be paid by Transitions Abroad Publishing, Inc. either by check or Paypal as preferred by the author.
• All federal, state, and local taxes are the sole responsibility of the Contest winners.

Format

Typed in Microsoft Word and sent by e-mail to webeditor@TransitionsAbroad.com. Your name and your email address must be on document.

Cover sheet

Please provide a cover page with your name and contact information (address, email address, telephone number), your college or university, and your year in school or year that you graduated or expect to graduate. If you traveled on your own, list the countries and dates and what you did (worked, backpacked, etc.) If you traveled with a program, list the program name and institution, and the dates. Include your current and permanent address, your current and permanent phone number, and e-mail address if applicable. Include a short biographical note (hometown, major, etc.).

Send to

Send electronically as an attached MS Word file to webeditor@TransitionsAbroad.com. If you cannot attach as MS Word file, then paste the article into an email message.

* Please do not send a hard copy submission by mail, as it will not be judged.

Click here to download the Student Writing Contest Guidelines in PDF format.