The University of Idaho Hemingway Festival High School Writing Contest opened last month, allowing regional high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to win cash prizes and pursue their passions in literature.
Local students will also be given the opportunity to interact with UI faculty, staff and students, in order to enhance their writing skills, enthusiasm and goals.
“We want to help Idaho students achieve their goals,” said Jennifer Hawk, UI Hemingway festival director. “We want to show them possibilities they may not know about.”
Hawk said the English Department wants to help high school teachers improve Idaho”s language arts scores.
They are taking steps toward increasing those percentages by creating the contest, which is open to junior and seniors in high school within Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
Moscow High School will get the experience of having UI students and faculty coming to visit them and conduct talks and workshops right in the high school.
“We are hoping that the students will see the value and we can bring them back to UI,” Hawk said. “They can even get admitted as students.”
She said she is looking forward to giving students a good look into what the university has to offer.
“(The workshops) will look at what to expect from UI writing and literature classes, and what”s nice is that the faculty will be right there,” Hawk said, mentioning she hopes students will see how faculty members can help them succeed.
Moscow High School Principal Erik Perryman said he believes juniors and seniors are at a place where they need to take their academics seriously, and he is excited for students to have an opportunity to showcase their writing.
“The local nature of this (contest) coupled with the workshops and other Hemingway events make it special,” Perryman said. “”¦ I hope we get some good contributions and generate a lot of interest for the next year”s contest.”
This spring, UI will host the 7th annual UI Hemingway Festival, which will be held March 2-5.
Hemingway worked, lived and died in Idaho, Hawk said.
“One of the greatest writers to have ever lived loved our wonderful state, so we celebrate his connection here by bringing the PEN/Hemingway Award Winner,” Hawk said. “”¦ And we also celebrate the UI Hemingway Fellow, a prestigious fellowship given to a UI MFA fiction writer each year.”
Perryman said UI including Moscow High specifically in this contest will have a positive effect all around.
“The UI is a big presence in Moscow, obviously, and I think the MHS-UI relationship is a positive one,” Perryman said.
Quad Cities Nissan has donated the cash award, which will go to the winners and finalists of the contests.
The UI Office of Alumni Relations also donated a total of $500 awarded to specific local winners.
“So many people want to support us because what they see us doing is really relevant and really important, to not only our small community, but to Idaho overall,” Hawk said.
One of Hawk”s main hopes is that the contest and programs will show students how great and helpful a degree in English can be, she said.
Perryman and Hawk are also eager to see where this program ends up in the coming years.
“I”d love to see the Hemingway Festival grow into a major state and regional event in the next few years – maybe it can be like a fall Jazz Fest,” Perryman said.
The long-term goal of the festival, however, prioritizes local students” language arts scores.
“If you don”t have good communication skills in this world, it”s going to be really hard to succeed,” said Hawk.
Hawk said the judges will look for interesting stories, good writing and a beginning, middle and end that readers can follow.
Editors from UI”s literary magazine “Fugue” will decide the best entries and send them to Ron McFarland, Hemingway scholar and English professor, who will choose the contest-winning entries and finalists.
The winners and finalists from the contest will be recognized during the Hemingway Festival this spring, and the winners will have their pieces published in an online UI publication.
Diamond Koloski can be reached at [email protected]