SCRIBO: An International Composition Contest

As this year's contest comes to a close, the SCRIBO competition as a whole will come to an end and will not be among Ascanius' programs moving forward starting next year. Thank you so much for your interest and support! We are happy to have spurred interest in Latin creative writing and to have recognized extraordinary work during the contest's eight years of existence. While SCRIBO will no longer be available, we are happy to announce an exciting new initiative in which you and your students may be interested. We will offer Classical Promise Grants to students and teachers wishing to bring Latin and Classics to elementary school and middle school students in their own communities. Please visit ascaniusyci.org/classicalpromise for more details and application instructions!

SCRIBO is an international Latin composition contest, designed to:

spur interest and excitement in using Latin for creative writing

provide teachers with high quality materials in Latin to read in their classes

honor and recognize top work in Latin creative writing

Students of Latin in any grade, from kindergarten through college, may participate. Entries will be sorted into the following levels, which are based on length of time studying Latin and content of the course: Exploratory, Lower, and Upper. (See the rules for a complete description of these levels.)

Entries

Students may submit original short stories, comics, and poems. Illustrations are encouraged but not required for all entries. All entries must have a maximum of 1,000 words and a maximum of ten pages (no larger than 8.5 x 11"). Click here to view sample entries from previous years. All entries must be submitted electronically by the teacher in PDF format via our website. The cost for submitting entries varies by how many students participate:

School Fee: $20 Each Student: $5 (maximum 25 students per school) Discounts Title-1 Schools (25%)

Homeschools (10%)

Teachers Paying Out of Pocket (10%)

Ascanius Members (10%)

Deadlines and Timeline (2018)

Dec. 18, 2017 Registration opens online. Feb. 12, 2018 Deadline to register your students and submit their entries online. Pay the registration fee (online or by mail). April 21, 2018 Awards, results, and CD's should be in the mail to you and your students.

How do I integrate SCRIBO into my classroom?

SCRIBO is designed to be as flexible as possible so that it will easily integrate into your class. You could offer a contest, assignment, or project from which you choose and submit the best entries. This could be open-ended, connected to a cultural unit, or connected to your text's storyline. Click here to see other teachers' methods for implementing SCRIBO, or to share your own!

What do we get?

Certificates for all participants

The top 20% of scorers on each level receive a medal with ribbon

Press release and letter to the principal recognizing all medal winners from your school

Participating teachers and the very best scorers will receive a free CD or PDF of the top entries, including multiple entries from each level

Knowledge that your school is supporting the mission of Ascanius: The Youth Classics Institute to bring Latin and Classical Studies to our youngest scholars

Scoring

All entries will be judged by Latin teachers and professors who have training in Latin composition and/or oral Latin, using the following categories: grammatical and syntactical accuracy, choice of vocabulary, quality of work, audience appeal. Entries in the running to be in the top 20% will be scored by at least one additional judge. (Please contact SCRIBO if you would like to apply to serve as a judge.)

Further Information

If you have any questions or concerns, please email scribo@ascaniusyci.org.