Over 500 young people wrote for the Scenarios USA “What’s the REAL DEAL About Masculinity?” story, play and scriptwriting contest. The writers’ voices moved us deeply and we salute their achievement. Three stories have been selected to go into development and will be shot into movies soon.

If you wrote for the contest, your story doesn’t stop here. There are countless ways you can continue to be a writer and an advocate for change.

Publish your work online:

• Teen Ink offers teenagers the opportunity to publish their creative work and opinions on the issues that affect their lives - everything from love and family to teen smoking and community service. Hundreds of thousands of students have submitted their work to them and they have published more than 25,000 teens since 1989. www.teenink.com
• Merlyn’s Pen has produced and supported school programs that promote creativity, critical thinking and writing, and self-acceptance. The New Library of Young Adult Writing showcases compelling works of fiction and nonfiction authored by America's teens, grades 6-12. To advanced teen writers, the Library is an online resource of successful models to explore, engage, and emulate. www.merlynspen.org
• Teen Voices Online is the original magazine written by, for and about teen women. Get published! If you’re a girl between the ages of 13-19, you can submit your writing, your art, or a description of your activism for publication in Teen Voices. www.teenvoices.com

Enter other contests:

• The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers hosts The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. These awards offer early recognition of creative teenagers and scholarship opportunities for graduating high-school seniors. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards offer creative teenagers:
  • Recognition by local and national professionals in the arts
  • Exhibition and publication opportunities for regional and national audiences; and
  • Scholarships for graduating seniors who present portfolios of art, photography and/or writing.

  www.artandwriting.org

• PUSH is all about finding new literary voices with compelling stories to tell. If you have something to write and want to add your voice to the mix, enter THE 2008 PUSH NOVEL CONTEST – DEADLINE IS March 14, 2008! This contest is open to students in grades 7 through 12. The gold medal winner will win a Scholastic Art & Writing Award, and the manuscript will be worked on with PUSH editorial staff, with the hope of eventual publication in PUSH. www.scholastic.com/artandwritingawards
• Next Step Teen Shout Out Writing Contest: Enter the Shout Out teen writing contest, and you could win $100 and have your writing published in an issue of Next Step Magazine! www.nextstepmagazine.com/nextstep/request-shout-out.aspx?clientId=5707
• Staples Teen Poetry Contest: If you are a teenager who enjoys writing poetry share it with Staples. Submit your best poem to express what you are thinking about and what issues are important to you. www.poetryamerica.com/teen-poetry-contest.asp

If you have any other links or resources you think we should post on this page, let us know at Ernestine@scenariosusa.org or call Ernestine at (866) 414-1044.

Zicole Zepeda
Nightmare on AIDS Street
2000 South Texas contest winner

Submit your story to the school newspaper for publication.

Send your story to your local newspaper for publication.

Bring your play or script to your local playhouse or theater for consideration

Find out if your school or local community organization has a video camera that you can borrow to shoot your own script

Build on your story to create a longer story- think about developing the characters, adding more detail to the descriptions, expanding the story line, for example

Get together with other REAL DEAL participants from your school and publish or perform your writing to another class or a community group. Find out if you can put all your writing together into a magazine or journal about masculinity. You might need to do some fundraising-ask a teacher to help!

Research more about gender and masculinity, and use your new knowledge to improve your story, for yourself, for publication or for another contest

Get together with other students who are interested in gender issues and figure out what issues are important to you, for example teen pregnancy and teen fatherhood.

Research the facts and develop a strategy to make changes in your school or community, by campaigning and educating others.

Explore your community, library, school and the Internet- look for resources on adolescent health and let your friends and peers know what’s out there for teens.