THE TELLING ROOM'S 2026 STATEWIDE WRITING CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.
The Telling Room’s annual creative Writing Contest invites youth from all over Maine, ages 6 - 18, to show off their writing. A panel of professional writers and youth selects one grand prize winner, a winner from each of Maine’s participating 16 counties, and submissions are considered for publication in The Telling Room’s annual anthology. If you have any questions on the submission process, please email Jude at: jude@tellingroom.org.
Submissions for this year’s contest are now closed!
We look for writing with...
An impactful message
Creativity and originality that stand out
A structure that supports the clarity of its message
A strong voice
Elements of writing (such as setting, characters, or figurative language) that support its message
Submission Guidelines
Entrants must live in Maine.
Entrants must be between the ages of 6 and 18.
All forms of creative writing are considered, including: poetry, prose, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, and songwriting.
All forms of poetry are welcome, but poems must be 40 lines or fewer.
Fiction and nonfiction prose should be 1500 words or fewer.
Youth may submit up to 2 different pieces of writing.
Submitting to our contest constitutes an agreement to be considered for publication in our annual anthology.
This statewide contest runs from October 1st through November 15th each year. If we do not receive your submission in this time span, it will not be considered.
Any writing submitted to The Telling Room’s Statewide Writing Contest must be original. No part of the writing submitted may be taken from or based on any other literary, dramatic, or musical material, or from any film or graphic arts presentation, or generated using artificial intelligence (AI), except as identified in writing by the author.
PRIZES
The Grand Prize Winner will receive a $250 award, will be published in our spring anthology, and may be published in other publications and media.
One County Winner will be selected from each of Maine’s 16 counties. Each County Winner will receive a $50 award, will be published in our spring anthology, and may be published in other publications and media.
Congratulations to our 2026 Writing Contest Winner, Albertina Dos Santos!
Congratulations to our grand prize winner, Albertina Dos Santos! Albertina is a fourteen-year old freshman, currently residing in Portland, Maine with her mom and two brothers. “To Love a Country” was inspired by bits and pieces of stories Albertina grew up hearing from her mother and siblings, ultimately being composed into her most memorable piece. In her free time, Albertina enjoys music analysis and true-crime documentaries. Her motto, “I write poetry as a way to breathe through life—each line a reminder that living is its own art,” is one she strives to live by each day.
Her winning poem “To Love a Country” will be published in our upcoming anthology in June. She will also receive a $250 cash prize.
Read Albertina’s winning poem below:
To Love a Country
by Albertina Dos Santos
Inspired by Richard Blanco
To love a country as if you’ve lost one:
2009, my mother left Angola
with sand in her shoes,
three children clinging like shadows to her skirt. The
air behind her smelled of charcoal and mangoes, the
air ahead bleach, bus fumes, and cold steel. Her
partner’s voice followed like thunder: low, constant,
crackling through every silence.
She learned to pack dreams in plastic bags, to
hush her hope beneath the hum of laundromats.
The kids laughed in languages she barely knew,
their joy a flicker in fluorescent kitchens.
And though the walls still trembled at night, she
watched the sunrise paint peace on their faces,
A color she hadn't seen since home.
To love a country as if you’ve lost one
is to carry hunger in your suitcase,
to arrive with three children and no map,
just bruises tucked beneath your blouse
and coins that jingle like apologies.
She left Angola with nothing but names:
her children’s, her own,
and the ones she swore
she would never speak again.
The plane smelled of metal and sweat,
the air in America of bleach and distance.
Her partner’s rage crossed,
a shadow stitched to her steps.
In tenement kitchens
she boiled rice with borrowed salt,
counted diapers like blessings,
and prayed the landlord wouldn’t knock.
Her children laughed
in English she barely understood,
their joy a flicker in the cold.
She learned to love this new country,
not for what it gave but for what it didn’t take:
a moment of quiet,
a door that stayed closed,
a morning without
bruises.
County Winners
To recognize the wide geographic participation in this year’s contest, The Telling Room honored one writer from each of Maine’s participating counties as a county winner, in addition to the grand prize winner. Each county winner will also be published in The Telling Room’s upcoming anthology, and receive a cash prize of $50. Read on below to celebrate this exceptional writing from across Maine, and congratulations to these authors!
County Winners
