Hello all!

If you’ve ever wanted to be part of an exciting endeavor, here’s your chance to review entries for the 2017 Write Michigan Short Story Contest (a statewide short story contest sponsored by Kent District Library and Schuler Books & Music). Reviewers are the first round volunteer judges that narrow down the entries for the Finals Judges and Public Online Voting in January.

• Who:  Those who love to read, who love to promote the written word, who love to see good things happen to people and who love new ideas.

• What: Write Michigan Short Story Contest is taking entries for all ages from people who live in Michigan and awarding cash prizes to winners.

• Where:  Submissions will be available for review online.  Volunteers will be given a login on December 4, 2017.

• When:  Reading/reviewing will take place from December 4, 2017 to December 28, 2017.  Contest ends November 30.

*We will also have need for reviewers to review last minute stories if other reviewers did not complete reviews.  These will only be 2-3 stories from December 29, 2017 – January 1, 2018. We will contact established reviewers in mid-November to get those willing and able to do last minute reviews on the Last Minute List.

• How:  Volunteers are asked to read entries in one of four categories (adult—18+; teen—12-17; youth—under 12; Spanish – all ages). 

• Each volunteer will have 10-13 stories total. 
• Each story will be read by two volunteers. 
• Story authors will not be disclosed but we ask that if volunteers have entered the contest or have family members who did, they please review a different contest category. 
• Please find our judging criteria here:  http://writemichigan.org/reviewers_faq.pdf.  However, the initial score that volunteers will be providing will be on a simple scale of one to ten, with ten being excellent.

• Why:  We want to support talented Michigan writers.

Details: 

1. Sign up to be a reviewer via KDL’s VolunteerHub page.
2. New users, create an account and enter the Join Code WriteMichigan when prompted.
3. Current Accounts, go to My Account and Enter Join Code WriteMichigan.
4. Click sign up next to the reviewer category of your choice.
5. You will receive an email confirmation that you are signed up and info about what happens next.

* The Reviewer posts are reserved for library/literary folk and friends. The posts will become available via the Join Code after signing in/up.

Contact CCrow@kdl.org if you need help signing in/up.

Your help is most appreciated!  Also, if you know of other volunteers, Friends members, book club members, retired schoolteachers and librarians who might be interested, please share this email with them.  We’d love to include them.

Thanks! Calli

Calli Crow

Volunteer Coordinator

Kent District Library

814 West River Center Dr. NE • Comstock Park, MI 49321

616-784-2016, ext. 2098. • ccrow@kdl.org