The 2016 Seton Summer Quarter Story Contest
The Judging is over!
We have our winners! Congratulations to the top four, one from each grade level. The judges did not find enough entries of note for a second place, but we may have some honorable mentions published here online. Each winning entry will be showcased in the Fall edition of the Bayley Bulletin. Coming soon!
Contest Details
How to Enter
Register for free to enter the contest. All registrants will be part of a special emailing list to keep you updated and informed about the contest.
Prizes:
All submissions will be judged by grade level, with the potential for first and second place finalists for each grade.
- 1st place: $50
- 2nd place: $35
Contest Rules
Open to Seton high school students, grades 9-12.
Select one of the novels you are reading this year for your high school curriculum, and create a short story around one of the characters.
If you are between years, you can pick the grade you are most comfortable with, and either write about a book you have already read or will be reading in the coming year.
The content must be sourced from the books you are reading in your curriculum, i.e.: Robinson Crusoe, Pygmalion, Jane Eyre, Perelandra, etc.
The challenge is to become one of the characters, and either pretend to be in the original time period or transpose the story into a modern setting while remaining true to the intent of the tale.
It’s a special contest, you are being creative in helping spark interest and fun for yourself and other high schoolers, so that they can better understand and enjoy the books that they are studying.
Maximum Length: 5000 words
Any questions? Ask away!
Guide to Writing a Short Story
Seton counselors have crafted a multi-part guide to help you write a short story. Take special note of the introduction, and read carefully through the 3 parts before sending in your story.
Only submissions of the highest quality and care will make it into the contest.
Contest Finalists
Round 2 | Grade 12 Finalists
Katelyn Daniels
The Noble Baby's Dress
Charles Foyle
Wormwood's Excuse
Round 2 | Grade 11 Finalists
Juliana Silva
The Bright, Red Balloon
Margaret Caffery
The Monster of St. Petersburg
Zoe Krauskopf
Manuel and Esteban
Round 2 | Grade 10 Finalists
Eleanor Fisher
A Worthy Cause
Luke Foyle
The Consensus
Emily McKinnon
Misunderstandings
Rebekah Johnson
Across These Waters
Kaitlin Merlino
The Deliverance
Round 2 | Grade 9 Finalists
Dakota Fleming
Only Halfway
Addison Heffron
Martha Cratchit
Margaret Orsinger
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Round 1 | Grade 12 Finalists
Katelyn Daniels
The Noble Baby's Dress
Charles Foyle
Wormwood's Excuse
Round 1 | Grade 11 Finalists
Juliana Silva
The Bright, Red Balloon
Kyle Indelicato
Mighty Fine Love
Zoe Krauskopf
Manuel and Esteban
Immanuel Portus
Between Angels and Wild Boys
Margaret Caffery
The Monster of St. Petersburg
Round 1 | Grade 10 Finalists
Luke Foyle
The Consensus
Emily Jesson
The "Good Samaritan" Farmer
Rebekah Johnson
Across These Waters
Kaitlin Merlino
The Deliverance
Eleanor Fisher
A Worthy Cause
Emily McKinnon
Misunderstandings
Round 1 | Grade 9 Finalists
Gemma Miller
The Silver Pocket Watch
Sonja Hiserman
Margaret's Triumph
Addison Heffron
Martha Cratchit
Hailey Dodson
All That Mattered
Dakota Fleming
Only Halfway
Sophia Burkhardt
The Adventure of Half Arrow
Margaret Orsinger
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Sophia Burkhardt
The Adventure of Half Arrow
Can my son use Pride and Prejudice as his novel or another one of the Jane Austen books?
Can we use Pride and Prejudice as his novel or another one of the Jane Austen books?
Great question! Seton will only accept stories based on books listed in the high school curriculum. We look forward to your entry!
The Seton newsletter says that the deadline is August 31st…is this a mistake or an update?
Hi Katelyn, we apologize, there was a misprint in the printed issue of the magazine. The correct date is counting down on this page to the end of July.
The deadline has been extended to respect the misprint. The end date will return to being August 31st. We hope that you all have more time to keep crafting great stories!
It says that the challenge is to “become” one of the characters from the book. Does this mean the stories must be written in the first person perspective, or can it be third person/omniscient as well, as long as it focuses upon a single character from the book?
Great question; either perspective is permitted. Good luck!
The rules say to write a short story around a character, either in the original time period or a modern setting, ‘while remaining true to the original intent of the tale.’ So, how much liberty are we allowed to take? How much of the original plot do we have to keep? Does it have to be an adaption of the original plot? How much of our own twist are we allowed to put on the character? Is the theme the only thing that has to remain identical?
I do not have a Seton family number. Can we still participate? We use some Seton curriculum, but are not enrolled with Seton.
Seton reserves participation for enrolled students; if you are a special case scenario, we can certainly accommodate that. Unfortunately we cannot accept non-enrolled entries at this time.
Special case scenarios could include a student enrolled in a single course with Seton. They will receive a Family Number, which makes them eligible for our contests.
My name is Sonja Hiserman but under my picture (grade 9 finalists) it says Emily Henderson. The story title is correct as is the picture… I’m not sure what happened or if this can be fixed.
Thanks Sonja! It was a typo that has been corrected. :)
My name is Kaitlin Merlino and under the 10th grade finalists my name and picture are both correct but the name of the story is wrong. Not sure if there was a glitch or typo?
Thanks Kaitlyn! It’s been corrected. :) It was a typo.
Thank you.
My name is Eleanor Fisher. I’m a tenth grade contestant. My name and picture are listed correctly, but the name of my story is wrong. Is this a typo?
So, will there be any honorable mentions or no?
Hi Emily, thanks for checking in. :) For this contest, the judges did not consider the remainder of the entries to be of sufficient quality for an honorable mention. They do recognize that with some editing and feedback, many of them could become quite fine pieces. But since it is within the context of a contest, publication/honorable mention is based on the submitted quality.