Calling all student creatives: Story State contest open for entry
Contact: Kaitlyn Yeatman
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University’s Story State 2025—an annual contest aimed at sharing Mississippi stories—is open for entries for new and original stories from all students enrolled at any Mississippi institution of higher learning.
Entries will be accepted through March 14.
Winners for each of the three categories will receive $100, and the overall winner will be named master storyteller and receive an additional $150. Winners will be announced March 27.
“We want to encourage undergraduate students and others in Mississippi to share their stories. Storytelling is not only an essential part of our lives but one of the most enjoyable things we get to engage in as human beings,” said Anna Blount, MSU communication instructor and competition coordinator for this year’s event. “We’re invested in the stories of people in and outside of our department and university, and we’re excited to continue the betterment of students’ storytelling skills through this contest.”
The three entry categories include:
—Written: Students are encouraged to enter works of nonfiction including personal narrative, memoir, narrative journalism, essay and other forms. Students can submit a complete work or an excerpt from a longer work. The word count must fall between 1,000 and 5,000.
—Oral: Students can submit works of narrative nonfiction audio segments of up to 10 minutes. These segments may be an excerpt from a longer work.
—Film: Submissions for this category include narrative nonfiction video segments of up to 10 minutes and can be an excerpt from a longer work.
Story State also features interviews with professional storytellers. This year, MSU Assistant Professor of Communication Rex Jones interviewed six professionals at the Southeastern Journalism Conference––held recently at MSU––for Story State, including Mo Balaa, founder and CEO of Hintjen; Jared Conerly, sports editor at The Greenwood Commonwealth; Pamela “Pam” Dankins, breaking news reporter at The Clarion Ledger; C.J. LeMaster, investigative reporter and co-anchor at WLBT; Megan Gordon, producer at WLBT; and Craig Peters, senior editor of the Minnesota Vikings’ website.
“We used SEJC to interview some talented panelists for Story State,” said Josh Foreman, chair of the Story State planning committee and SEJC president. “It just made sense that we interview them while they were on campus. Some traveled from across the country.”
Their interviews will be broadcast on www.storystate.msstate.edu as part of Story State’s culmination on March 27, offering valuable insights into the evolving landscape of journalism and storytelling, providing students with real-world perspectives on how to craft compelling narratives.
For more information regarding entry submission, visit www.storystate.msstate.edu or email storystate@comm.msstate.edu.
Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.