Tag: young writers

2019 Conference, Ch21Con

2019 Ch1Con & Ch21Con Blog Tour Schedule!

Julia Byers

Hey, everybody! We’re thrilled to announce the 2019 Ch1Con & Ch21Con Blog Tour!

We put together this annual blog tour to share info and fun, behind-the-scenes facts about the Chapter One Young Writers Conference and Chapter Twenty-One Conference (and to give away some awesome prizes, of course). The 2019 blog tour will kick off on Friday, May 10 and conclude towards the end of May. Follow the tour for guest posts, interviews by the Chapter One Events team–and, of course, giveaways!

Ch1Events Blog Tour 2019 Banner

Check out the schedule below:
  • Friday, May 10: www.ch21con.tumblr.com
    • The new Ch21Con Tumblr hosts a interview with conference director Julia Byers!
    • GIVEAWAY: SIGNED hardcover copy of On the Come Up by Angie Thomas!
  • Tuesday, May 14: www.batmansymbol.tumblr.com
    • 2019 workshop leader and panelist Riley Redgate shares a personal post about speaking at the conferences!
  • Friday, May 17: www.anniesullivanauthor.com
    • Author Annie Sullivan hosts an interview of Ch21Con team member Ariel Kalati!
    • GIVEAWAY: $25 Barnes & Noble e-gift card!
  • Wednesday, May 22: www.juliathewritergirl.com
    • Ch21Con director Julia Byers hosts an interview of Ch21Con team member Katie Nichols!
    • GIVEAWAY: SIGNED hardcover copy of The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman!
  • Saturday, May 25: www.kirabrighton.weebly.com
    • Freelance editor Kira Brighton hosts a guest post by Ch21Con team member Katie Nichols, on rekindling your passion for writing!
  • BONUS: Beginning of June: Joan He’s newsletter Looseleaf
    • 2019 workshop leader and panelist Joan He will sharing about speaking at the conferences in her June newsletter! Make sure to subscribe now in order to read it.

We can’t wait to share the tour with you, and hope to see you in Chicagoland at Ch1Con and Ch21Con 2019!

– The Chapter One Events Team

Ch21Con, Writing Contest

2018 Writing Contest Winners!

Julia Byers

Hey, everyone!

We are thrilled today to announce the winners of our second annual Chapter One Events Poetry & Short Fiction Contest! All winning entries will appear in our 2018 contest e-book anthology, which will be available for purchase in mid-July.

You’ll note in the contest results below that we don’t necessarily award a full set of winners for each category. This is because we believe in rewarding quality over quantity, so we’ve limited our winners to only those entries we find fitting of this distinction. (Basically this means, if you won something, it’s because we really love you.)

Now, without further ado: drum roll please………

Ch1Con (Ages 11-20)

Poetry Winners
  • First Place: “Visions” by Miranda Sun
  • Second Place: “Mountain” by Emily Woods
  • Honorable Mentions: “Away with You” by Miranda Sun and “Looking Forward to Nineteen” by Emily Woods
Short Fiction Winners
  • First Place: “The Rosewyvern’s Curse” by Emily Woods
  • Second Place: “We’ve Hit an Iceberg” by Kori Johnson

Ch21Con (Ages 21-29)

Short Fiction Winner
  • First Place: “The New Corpse” by H. L. Cassel

Congratulations!!!

Thank you to all who entered the contest! We really enjoyed reading your entries and we hope you’ll enter again next year. And a HUGE congratulations to our winners!! All our winners this year will receive discounted admission to the relevant conference, as well as one free copy of the 2018 contest e-book anthology–which, again, will be available for purchase in mid-July.

Now go celebrate!

–The Ch1Events Team

 

2018 Conference

2018 Moderators: Emma Rose Ryan and Julia Byers

Julia Byers

Surprise! Today’s announcement is actually for two speakers. (Whaaat?!)

The Chapter One Events team is pleased to announce our next two speakers for the 2018 Chapter One Young Writers Conference and inaugural Chapter Twenty-One Conference: Ch1Con director Emma Rose Ryan and Ch21Con director Julia Byers!

Emma Ryan

Emma Rose Ryan is an undergraduate studying Creative Writing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She’s been a member of the Chapter One Young Writers Conference team since the event’s inception, and she is honored to be taking over as director for 2018. Emma writes middle grade and YA fiction, focusing on paranormal and urban fantasy genres. When she’s not writing, Emma can be found reciting Shakespeare, watching The West Wing, or petting someone else’s cat.

Find Emma online:

Julia Byers

Julia Byers graduated in 2016 from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, where she studied Honors Creative Writing & Literature and Global Media Studies (Film). She graduated with Distinction and Highest Honors. She then attended the inaugural Columbia Publishing Course UK, a one-month intensive certificate course focused on the publishing industry, run in collaboration by Columbia University and Exeter College, Oxford University. In 2017, she moved to New York City to complete a six-month editorial internship at Scholastic. In her free time, she directs bookish nonprofit organization Chapter One Events and is a writer and amateur photographer. Her writing has received a variety of honors, including a Hopwood Award, the Arthur Miller Award, and first place in the children’s/YA fiction category of the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition.

Find Julia online:

Check out Julia’s published writing on her website.

Emma and Julia will be co-moderating the conferences’ combined ask anything panel. Julia will also be moderating Ch21Con’s young publishing panel. In honor of speaking at the conferences, Julia is thrilled to give away a critique of the first fifty pages of one young adult or middle grade manuscript!

Just click the link below to enter the raffle. We’ll leave it open for one week!

Click here to enter the giveaway!

We don’t have all of our speakers for the 2018 conferences solidified yet, but we’re announcing those we can throughout this week. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the reveal of another 2018 speaker!

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– The Ch1Events Team

Monthly Online Events

January Ch1Con Activities

Julia Byers

Hey, guys! Welcome to 2015.

We’ve already had one Twitter chat this month, but never fear if you missed it! We’ve got several more events coming your way.

First, this Thursday (January 22nd) at 8 PM EST, we’ll be hosting our monthly video Ch1Con Chat, in which members of the Ch1Con team answer YOUR questions (and also goof off a lot). This month’s topic is Writing Diverse Characters*. You can participate by asking us questions on Twitter using #Ch1Con and watch the chat on our Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/chapteroneconference.

Also, I’m conveniently embedding it in the post below:

Second, next Wednesday (January 28th) at 9:30 PM EST, we’ll be hosting a Ch1Con Twitter Chat in which we ask YOU questions, because we’d love to hear your thoughts on all these various writing-related things and also we’re sure you have some good stories to tell. The topic for this chat is the books and authors that inspire us. Use #Ch1Con to participate.

And finally, we’ll also be hosting one hour writing sprints at 1 PM EST on both of the remaining Saturdays in January (the 24th and 31st), so come join us for some writing shenanigans while we de-stress a little from school.

See you Thursday!

~Julia

General

Ch1Con Fights to the Death

Julia Byers

It’s time! Tomorrow (Saturday, November 22nd) at 3:00 PM EST the Ch1Con team will have one hour in a Google Doc, visible to your lovely eyes, to attempt to write a story together using the barest of writing prompts.

One story. No communication.

Who will learn to write together? Who will write against the rest of the team? Who will actually manage to stay on task? Only time will tell.

Want to watch the madness? Tune in here at 3 PM EST: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GYoNFzqUp8LgLTIVtRjcGo_krNrDhiQteDUITfb5Re8/edit?usp=sharing

Want to know what we’ll be attempting to write about? The Prompt of Doom: Our protagonist enters Panera and asks for the food s/he ordered online, only for the girl behind the counter to say Protagonist needs to follow her to the backroom… for some reason.

You may now begin taking bets on who will survive ’til the end.

See you tomorrow!

~Julia

2015 Conference

Ch1Con 2015: August 8th!

Julia Byers

It’s official! The 2015 Chapter One Young Writers Conference will take place Saturday, August 8th at the Courtyard Chicago Arlington Heights/South hotel, just outside Chicago.

Mark your calendars, because we are SO EXCITED to bring the 2015 conference to you! Stay tuned for lots more announcements, coming sooner than you can read the A Song of Fire and Ice series. (Okay, maybe a lot sooner than that.)

Talk to you soon!

~Julia

2014 Conference

We’ve Got Dates!

Julia Byers

Mark your calendars, everybody–we’ve got the dates and location of the 2014 Chapter One Young Writers Conference!

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Saturday, June 14th, 2014: Join us to learn all kinds of cool writing-related things in sessions taught by other young writers, just like you. From how to strengthen your writing using the techniques of blockbuster films, to the differences in journalism versus fiction-writing, it’s going to be a day filled with learning and (gasp) fun.

Sunday, June 15th, 2014 (separate admission): During the optional second day of the conference, attend workshops teaching different critique methods, how to write a kickbutt query letter, and more.

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The conference will take place at the Courtyard Chicago Arlington Heights/South, just outside of Chicago, Illinois.

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See you in June!

~Julia, founder