Overview

The Young Writers Project -- Overview

VISION | To operate a safe, respectful online community where young writers share ideas, comment on each other’s work, learn from mentors and professionals and connect with the world.

MISSION | To engage students to write, help them improve and publish their best work.

NEED | Seventy five percent of high school graduates cannot write proficiently, yet the ability to write is key to success in business, community affairs and life. • Schools do not spend enough time with writing. • Students learn to dislike writing.

BELIEFS | Students can learn to write well. • The Web is a comfortable place for students to write. • The prospect of being published motivates students to try harder, learn more and write better. • Receiving objective, positive feedback helps young writers gain confidence and grow; giving feedback improves critical thinking. • Students at risk need special attention. • Young people want voice.

SERVICES | YWP offers:

• This interactive Web site, www.youngwritersproject.org, where registered students post writing, respond to prompts, receive and give respectful feedback, read tips on writing, post audio stories, engage in online workshops and discuss books, news and life;
• Trained college students who serve as mentors by providing feedback to students;
• Online workshops that focus learning by students of varying skills and demographic backgrounds;
• In-class workshops that generate enthusiasm for writing and its importance;; and
• Publication of selected student work on the Web, in five Vermont and N.H. daily newspapers and on radio and stage through other YWP partners.

WHERE PUBLISHED | Students additionally submit work to be considered for outside publication; student judges, with professional guidance, choose which work gets published:

• in five Vermont and N.H. daily newspapers -- The Burlington Free Press, The Times-Argus, The Rutland Herald, The Brattleboro Reformer and The Valley News;

• on this Web site;
• on Vermont Public Radio; and
• in the venues of these partners: Vermont Public Television, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Youth Orchestra, Vermont Stage Company, The Young Tradition Concert, First Night/Burlington and the Vermont Songwriters Association.

WHEN PUBLISHED | YWP student material appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays in The Burlington Free Press as well as on Sunday in the Franklin County Edition and in its weekly supplements in Colchester, Williston, South Burlington and Essex. YWP student material appears on Tuesdays in the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, Brattleboro Reformer, The Rutland Herald and The Valley News (Lebanon, N.H../White River Junction, VT.) The Web site always has new material.

BENEFITS | YWP student participants:

• develop and hone writing skills;
• connect with their peers;
• succeed;
• develop creative and critical thinking skills;
• learn writing through emerging digital technologies; and
• learn how their ideas and experiences relate to the world around them.

FEEDBACK | YWP teacher participants say The Project helps them teach by providing ideas for students to write to, incentive for the students to write and great writing resources. Students say the project helps them write. CLICK HERE to read a sampling of participants' reactions.

SOME NUMBERS | Since October 2006, YWP has received more than 5,000 submissions 200 schools in Vermont and New Hampshire. The Web site has 400 visitors a day and 2,000 registered users.

TO REGISTER & SUBMIT | Students and teachers can register now if you are from Vermont or the Lebanon, N.H., area. For safety reasons, it may take a day or two for your account to be approved and activated. It is requested that student submissions be made by logging into this site and creating an "entry." For more, click here.

However, if you do not have access to a computer, or if you are a teacher with a large number of entries, you can email them to geoffrey gevalt at his email address of ggevalt_at_youngwritersproject.org. Keep in mind that YWP is a small organization and we will have to type in all of your entries.

STAFF | The Project's editor is Geoffrey Gevalt, an award-winning writer and editor with 33 years experience in newspapers and magazines. He was, for two years, a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in Beat Reporting. He formerly was managing editor of The Burlington Free Press. To contact him, click here or by mail:

Geoffrey Gevalt
Editor, Young Writers Project Inc.
69 Swift St., Suite 300
South Burlington, Vt. 05403
802.860-0570
Fax: 802.865-0662

BOARDS | YWP has a strong governing board of directors that includes educational leaders, philanthropists, business leaders, writers and teachers. YWP also has an active advisory board of teachers and students; if you would like to join, contact Geoff Gevalt.

DONATIONS | YWP depends on your donations. YWP is a federal 501(c)3 nonprofit and thus all donations are tax deductible. If you like our work, donate or get a parent to donate. For more, click here.

SPONSORS | The Vermont Business Roundtable and its business and higher education members began a two-year grant to the YWP in August, 2006. For more about the VBR, click here.
For more about other Friends and Partners, click here.