Deadline for all submissions: May 15, 2015

All NSHSS high school members are eligible to submit their creative work in our new Claes Nobel Arts and Literary Competition. Winning literary entries and artwork will be published on the NSHSS website. Entries will be judged on creativity, technique, expression, and originality. Three prizes will be awarded in each of the following categories: Poetry, Fiction, Visual Arts, and Video. In each category the following prizes will be awarded, with a total of 12 prizes totaling $7,000.

First prize: $1,000
2nd prize: $500
3rd prize: $250

Literary Competition

Students may submit poetry or fiction to the literary contest. All entries must uploaded online in the application in the member dashboard. Entries should not have been previously published. All entries must be uploaded online in the application either as documents files or pdf files. Submit one entry per category.

Poetry

Students may submit their original poetry in any style, from formal verse, to free verse to experimental. The poem should be formatted as you wish it to appear in publication.

Fiction

Student may submit a piece of short fiction, which must be no more than 5,000 words and should not be single-spaced. The entry may be any genre of the student’s choice, including graphic novel or story.

By submitting your literary work to us, you are giving NSHSS and its partners, affiliates, and licensees the non-exclusive right to publish your work in any format, including print, electronic, and online media. However, all individual contributors to NSHSS retain the right to submit their work for non-exclusive publication elsewhere, and you have our permission to do so.

Winners in the poetry and fiction categories may be invited to participate in a public reading of their works.

Visual Arts

Students may submit visual art and photography–painting, ceramics, glass, sculpture, mixed media, printmaking, weaving, digital and 35mm photography. These must submitted as digital files which must be a minimum 300 dpi JPEG. All work must be the student’s original work. Submit only one entry. Ten semifinalists will be selected and required to submit their work via mail to the NSHSS headquarters.

By submitting your artwork to us, you are giving NSHSS and its partners, affiliates, and licensees the non-exclusive right to publish your work in any format, including print, electronic, and online media. However, all individual contributors to NSHSS retain the right to submit their work for non-exclusive publication elsewhere, and you have our permission to do so.

Finalists will be contacted to submit physical artworks if appropriate for the category. These will be shipped to the NSHSS headquarters at the finalist’s expense and will be donated to NSHSS.

Video

Video Prompt: Express yourself by providing an artistic representation of yourself or your worldview through film. Films should be no more than 5 minutes long, and submissions can be made into the following categories: create a story through scripted film narrative, animation, documentary, or music video/musical performance.

Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
•Expression of a clear theme;
•Quality of the storyline and script;
•Creativity and/or content originality;
•Production quality; and
•Editing.
To enter, upload your video to YouTube and provide the link in your application.

By submitting your work to us, you are giving NSHSS and its partners, affiliates, and licensees the non-exclusive right to publish your work in any format, including print, electronic, and online media. However, all individual contributors to NSHSS retain the right to submit their work for non-exclusive publication elsewhere, and you have our permission to do so.

Plagiarism. NSHSS has a no-tolerance policy for plagiarism. Any applicant whose winning work is determined to be plagiarized in whole or in part will forfeit any awards.

Applicants must also provide a brief statement describing the work submitted – what inspired the work, how it was created, and the intent. Entries also require an educator recommendation.

For questions, contact scholarships@nshss.org