Chicago area high school students can win up to $500 in writing competition

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame announced the launch of an exciting new award.

The Randall Albers Young Writers Award is open to all Chicago-area students currently enrolled in grades nine through 12.

The award honors one of Chicago's most beloved literary dignitaries, Randall Albers, and celebrates the literary gifts of Chicago's youth.

This year's inaugural award will honor young writers of fiction and non-fiction, and offers a a $500 award to the first-place winner. Finalists will receive awards in the following amounts: $250 to second place, $150 to third place and $100 to fourth place.

Each winner will also receive a writing consultation with one of the editors for DePaul's Blue Book: Best American High School Writing 2023, and their winning pieces may be eligible for inclusion in the publication.

The winner and finalists will be announced in late April and honored at an awards ceremony on Saturday, May 13th, 2023 at the Harold Washington Library Center (registration link here).

Submissions are open now through April 3 at 5 p.m. at chicagoliterayhof.org. Entrants must live in Chicago or one of its surrounding counties (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will), but can attend any school, public or private, homeschool or online school.

Submission is free and a full list of the contest rules and guidelines is available on the CLHOF website.

The CLHOF chose to name the award after Albers as a way of honoring his longstanding commitment to mentoring and encouraging young writers in the Chicago area. Randall is professor and chair emeritus of fiction at Columbia College Chicago.