Well, the holidays are definitely upon us. The candles are lit, the eggnog is flowing, and Writing magazine's student writing contest's deadline has come and gone. Time's up, my friends! I hope you got your entry in!

We got so many contest entries this year! Guess how many? Go ahead and guess! Nope, too low. Guess again. What?!? 15,000?!? Are you nuts? That's way too high, guess again! Did you say 1,400? Bingo!

This year's Take Five Student Writing contest brought in Fourteen Hundred (it looks like more when you actually spell it out, bold it, and paint it red) wonderful and thought provoking poems and short stories from Grades 5-12. Thanks to all who submitted! We are now up to our ears in shadows and keys and elephants and chicken noodle soup! (If you entered the contest, you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't, you're pretty clueless right now. Sorry. Click here for the background story. 

In any case, thank you thank you thank you to all the student writers out there who have made my last days of work before the holidays exciting and fun! Every day I wake up and come into work knowing that today I get to read your work! It's really a treat and your stories and poems are interesting and intriguing and funny and poignant and clever and just ... a great read! We're proud of all our contestants and can't wait to announce the winners in our April/May issue!

Keep on writing! You rock!