MAGAZINE SPONSORS WRITING CONTEST

Hey kids! Grab your pen and paper and start writing. You could be the next winner in a USA Weekend writing contest.

The magazine and Partners in Education are sponsoring a short-story writing contest for students in grades 9 through 12. Winners will be published in the national magazine.

The project is an outgrowth of the magazine's annual Summer Fiction Series. Popular authors, such as Clive Barker, Robert James Waller, Susan Cheever and others, wrote original short stories for the 1994 fiction series.

The Short Story Writing program includes a fiction writing teaching guide in addition to the contest.

Contest entries must be 1,000 to 1,500 words. They should be received by March 1. Stories should be mailed to USA Weekend Short Story Contest, P.O. Box 4749, Blair, Neb. 68009.

First prize in the contest is publication in USA Weekend, a national magazine with 38.5 million readers. The winner will also receive a Macintosh computer system.

Second prize is a CD-ROM encyclopedia program. Two second prizes will be awarded. Three sponsoring teachers will also receive $75 gift certificates.