SECONDARY 4 AND 5 STUDENTS: TELL YOUR STORY OR PERFORM!

2025 DEADLINE: to be confirmed

Organized by Townshippers’ Association, Place aux Jeunes Eastern Townships and Global Excel, these two prizes shine a light on great, young storytelling talent in our region, or up-and-coming creatives seeking to express themselves through a variety of performing arts.

We want to hear your amazing stories or show off your performing arts talent!

 

How to enter

Both the Storyteller Prize and the Performing Artist Prize are contests open to students in Secondary 4 and Secondary 5 who are attending one of the three English-speaking high schools in the ETSB:

  • Alexander Galt Regional High School
  • Massey-Vanier High School
  • Richmond Regional High School

*Please note winners will be required to provide proof of attendance in good standing before claiming their award.

Send Pages 1 and 2 of the ENTRY FORM (PDF) to paj@townshippers.org with Storyteller Prize or Performing Artist Prize in the subject line. Entry forms can also be sent by regular mail to:

Storyteller Prize and Performing Artist Prize
c/o Townshippers’ Association
3355 rue College
Sherbrooke, QC  J1M 0B8

Submissions that do not meet the requirements or that are received after the deadline will not be considered.

If you have questions or problems submitting your essay or work, contact Abbey Driscoll at 819-566-5717 (toll-free 1-877-566-5717), paj@townshippers.org

 

STORYTELLER Prize: Rules

Please read Rules 1, 2 and 3 carefully.

1. Choose a format: written essay or video essay.

WRITTEN ESSAY

  • Provide a title for the essay.
  • Minimum of 400 words to a maximum of 500 words.
  • Entries must be typed using an 11 or 12-point font, double spaced.
  • Entries must be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format.

VIDEO ESSAY

  • Do not exceed 3 minutes in length.
  • Shoot using any kind of camera equipment.
  • Use a landscape/horizontal frame; do not use vertical frame like Instagram or TikTok.

2. Choose ONE story prompt to begin your story.

  • PROMPT 1: My hero is (real/imagined). My hero was born in…and grew up in…
  • PROMPT 2: If I were famous, I would…
  • PROMPT 3: This is the most important challenge I faced, and this is how I overcame it.
  • PROMPT 4: New prompt and topic approved by an English teacher.

3. Follow the submission steps.

  1. Your submission must be an original work.
  2. Your essay (or video link) must be submitted along with Pages 1 and 2 of the Entry Form. You can also send your video for free on wetransfer.com. Make sure the video is an .mp4 file and that it is no larger than wetransfer.com’s 2 GB limit.
  3. Send your Entry Form to paj@townshippers.org with Storyteller Prize in the subject line. Submissions that do not meet the requirements or that are received after the deadline will not be considered.

 

Performing Artist Prize: Rules

Please read Rules 1, 2 and 3 carefully.

1. Follow the basic guidelines.

  • Do not exceed 5 minutes in length.
  • Shoot using any kind of camera equipment.
  • Use a landscape/horizontal frame; do not use vertical frame like Instagram or TikTok.

2. Choose ONE of the following:

  • Sing one song (vocal only)
  • Sing a song with a musical instrument
  • Play a musical work
  • Read one or two original poems
  • Do a rap or beatbox
  • Dance: your choice of style
  • Explain a complex scientific concept so that a 12-year-old can understand

3. Follow the submission steps.

  1. Your submission must be an original work.
  2. Your video link must be submitted along with Pages 1 and 2 of the Entry Form. You can also send your video for free on wetransfer.com. Make sure the video is an .mp4 file and that it is no larger than wetransfer.com’s 2 GB limit.
  3. Send your Entry Form and video link to paj@townshippers.org with Performing Artist Prize in the subject line. Submissions that do not meet the requirements or that are received after the deadline will not be considered.

 

Townshippers’ Association/PAJ Eastern Townships collects your information for the purpose of this contest. All entries become the property of Townshippers’ Association and will not be returned; you will be notified if your work has been selected as winner. The names of winners will be announced in early June.

Entrants grant Townshippers’ Association and/or PAJ Eastern Townships permission to publish all or part of the submitted work and to use the entrants name and photograph to publicize the winning entries, all without royalty or other consideration.

 

AWARD PARTNER

The cash prize is made possible through the generous support of Global Excel.