Annual writing competition for all ages
The annual Paper Gardens competition is now open for submissions. Paper Gardens is a creative writing program with categories in prose and poetry that accepts free entries from students ages 6 through 18.
Top submissions in each category in each age group will be honored at a celebration on May 6 at the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg. All winning entries will be published in the book and all published authors will receive a copy of the book at the celebration.
Entry deadline is March 2, 2025. Click here for guidelines and the online submission form.
The 2025 judges are Kari Luna for prose and Carolyn Martin for poetry. Funding partners include The Arts Alliance, the Chehalem Cultural Center, the Kinsman Foundation, The Give A Little Foundation, library, book and writing groups, community businesses and individuals, the Yamhill County Cultural Coalition and the Oregon Cultural Trust.
For more than three decades, the Paper Gardens project has brought together the diverse voices of Yamhill County writers and poets into a single book. This unique publication features creative submissions from children, youth and adults who live, study or work in Yamhill County.