Thursday, September 23, 2010

SCRIBO Latin Composition Competition

Introducing SCRIBO, an International Latin Composition Contest!

Goals: This contest is designed to spur interest and excitement in using Latin for creative writing, provide teachers with high quality materials in Latin that they can read in their classes, and honor and recognize top work in Latin creative writing!

Entries: Original short stories, comics, and poems are accepted. Illustrations are encouraged but not required. Entries have a maximum of 1,000 words and a maximum of 10 pages.

Eligibility and Levels: Students of Latin in any grade, from kindergarten through college, may participate. Entries will be sorted into the following levels, which are based on length of time studying Latin and content of the course: exploratory, lower, and upper.

Classroom Integration: SCRIBO is designed to be as flexible as possible for easy classroom integration. You could offer a contest, assignment, or project from which you could choose and submit the best entries. This could be open-ended, connected to a cultural unit, or connected to your text's storyline!

Benefits: Participation in SCRIBO has the following benefits
  • certificates for all participants
  • medals with ribbons for the top 20% of scorers
  • press release plus letter to the principal recognizing medal winners
  • free CD of the top entries, including multiple entries per level
  • ability to purchase full-color bound books of the collected top entries (plus inclusion in a raffle to win a free copy of this book)
  • knowledge that your school is supporting the mission of Ascanius: The Youth Classics Institute to bring Latin and Classical Studies to our youngest scholars

Scoring: All entries will be judged by Latin teachers and professors who have training in Latin composition and/or oral Latin, using the following categories: grammatical and syntactical accuracy, choice of vocabulary, quality of work, audience appeal. Entries in the running to be in the top 20% will be scored by at least one additional judge. (Contact SCRIBO to apply to serve as a judge.)

Cost: $25 for 1 entry (or homeschool groups); $45 for 2-5 entries; $75 for 6-10 entries.

Registration & Submission: Register and pay by mail/online, including names, ages, and levels of student participants, no later than December 15, 2010. Receive an email from SCRIBO with identifying codes for all your participants, no later than January 1, 2011. Then the teacher submits all entries electronically in PDF format no later than January 15, 2011. Results, awards, and CD's should be in the mail by April 15, 2011!

Visit http://www.ascaniusyci.org/scribo for more information and to register!

Sponsored by Ascanius: The Youth Classics Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.