4th/5th Grade Talent Search Writing Contest

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Submission Deadline: December 1, 2009

Set Your Clocks Ahead

Imagine you have just received news that a long-lost relative has given you a surprising gift. It is a time machine that will transport you into the future to exactly 100 years after the day you were born and within 100 miles of where you live now. However, upon arriving in the future, you discover that traveling through time isn’t so easy; something unexpected, strange, and important happens! You have 24 hours in the future to meet this unforeseen crisis, but will that be enough time?

The Challenge: Write a short story in which the main character has been given a time machine and travels from the present to a) exactly 100 years after the day you were born and b) anywhere within 100 miles of where you live now. While in the future, not all goes according to plan and a crisis occurs. Your character only has 24 hours before returning to the present.

  1. Learn about your setting. Setting should play a major role in your story. Where you live influences your choices, your options, and your perspective. Writers carefully select meaningful times and places where their characters can walk, talk, and act. What will the place within 100 miles of where you live now be like in the future?
  2. Choose the crisis. Your story doesn’t have to resolve the crisis; you just have to deal with it creatively. A happy ending isn’t required, just an interesting one!

Writing Contest winners will be highlighted in Duke TIP’s Navigator newsletter and on this website.They will also receive:

  • 1st place: $250 to the 5th grade winner, $250 to the 6th grade winner and $250 to each of their schools
  • 2nd place: $100 to the 5th grade winner, $100 to the 6th grade winner and $100 to each of their schools
  • 3rd place: $25 to the fifth grade winner, $25 to the sixth grade winner and $25 to each of their schools

Check back in March to see the winners and their entries.