hey guys! I’m new here but I stalked the other threads haha 
Last year I got two gold keys but no national medals, so fingers crossed for this year! Good luck to you all too
Also, what other contests do you guys recommend submitting too (for writing)? I’m planning on entering Foyle’s and YoungArts but I’m not really sure what else.
Hey @RecalledtoLife! First of all I wanted to say congrats so much for your portfolio award! Oddly enough, I had read through it on the online galleries shortly before seeing this and it was so innovative and engaging! Thank you for curating and creating such an enjoyable portfolio!
I wanted to ask if you had any tips on creating a solid portfolio. I’ve been lucky enough to recieve a few individual awards (Gold Medal, Silver Medal, and National Student Poet 2019) but the thought of creating a whole portfolio is a little intimidating. Is there anything in particular writers can do to craft the most engaging portfolio possible?
Thank you so much!
Hey guys, this is my first time entering a writing contest. I noticed that with both Scholastic and YoungArts they only allow the first 20 pages of a novel manuscript if you’re submitting one. My novel is pretty uneventful in the first 20 pages (mainly setting up the story) so should I bother submitting it as it is? Or should I rewrite it to make it more interesting?
@KYBE43 Scholastic lets you submit your entire manuscript along with a sample
hey there’s a new discord server for 2019-2020 scholastic (if anyone knows what that is): https:// discord. gg/ kWMFug (remove all spaces and it should work)
@wistfulwords I typed in the link, but it said the invite had expired? Let me know if I’m doing something wrong–I don’t use Discord much.
Oh it must have not been a permanent invite… try this one: https:// discord .gg /6DyuurH
@wistfulwords Got it! Thanks!
@wistfulwords Would you mind sending me an invite as well?
Hi everyone! I’m a scholastic alumni (2018 gold medal, special achievement award, silver medal), was cut in the final round for youngarts poetry (didn’t make it to the final rounds :[ ), have 15+ literary publications, and am now attending a program at Iowa’s International Writing Program. If anyone has any questions about writing in college (I chose to pursue a business major over a creative writing one), about Scholastic, wants critiques, anything, feel free to reach out wherever. I remember applying to Scholastic myself and I wish the world to each and every one of you who submits and wants to make a difference in the literary/writing world. Scholastics, Youngarts, even literary magazines and competitions can be such a political and biased sphere, or sometimes it just boils down to luck, and just know sometimes an insanely good piece can win nothing.
@wontonandrice you can try the link above again if you haven’t already!
@wistfulwords I’ve tried it but it doesn’t work :(.
Ahhhhh hi everyone!!! I was so busy with finals and graduations and NYC that I didn’t get to come on the thread. Yeah so the discord link posted is the server I started! If any of you want to get on it’s best to contact me there haha. I’ll try to consolidate a response to everyone ASAP but I’m a little swamped with summer classes 
Also thanks to everyone for their kind words!
@RecalledtoLife Is it possible for you to send me a link to the Discord? That’d be awesome. Thanks!
@wistfulwords @RecalledtoLife Nevermind it worked. Thank you!
hi everyone!! i was a bit of a lurker on last year’s thread, but i decided to make a cc account to participate in this year’s. last year was my first year entering, and i ended up doing pretty well. i got american voices for my poetry and was a semifinalist for the national student poet program. i’m just kind of scared that i’m some kind of a one hit wonder, and i won’t match up to what i did last year again. like i stepped up to the plate and hit it straight out of the park my first time at bat. writing has kind of been hard for me now. i was just wondering if anyone else has ever experienced something similar?
@townbythebay Dude, I totally get what you’re talking about… Freshman year I won a gold and silver medal at nationals. Sophomore year I only won things regionally. In all honesty, the work I submitted last year wasn’t as good (though my overall writing improved), partially because I was worried like you about being a one hit wonder. Thinking so much about competitions drove down a lot of my writing’s quality. Honestly, just don’t stress too much. Scholastics is a contest, like any other, and it has its own issues (the story that won gold for me was the worst one I submitted)–Scholastics definitely doesn’t determine your writing’s value. In any case, you got this, dude!
i think this is just something that i’ve been needing to hear and i really appreciate the reassurance!!
I was pretty active on last year’s thread, but somehow didn’t really see this until now. A spontaneous reminder that entries are opening on Sept. 12! Wish everyone the best of luck :]