Students are being given the chance to showcase their creative sides in a fictional writing competition that includes a panel of celebrities.

To enter

The Delta Youth Writing Contest is open to students in grades 7 to 12 in Warren, Issaquena, Sharkey, Yazoo, Washington, Desoto, Humphreys, Carroll, Panola, Quitman, Bolivar, Coahoma, Leflore, Sunflower, Tunica, Tallahatchie and Holmes counties. Submit entries to: Coahoma County Higher Education Center, 109 Clark St., Clarksdale, MS 38614. The deadline is Feb. 10. Winners will be notified in March. For information and rules, call 800-381-2306 or visit www.mississippiwritersguild.com.

The Mississippi Writers Guild, along with Wisconsin-based Tyrus Books and award-winning Mississippi actor Morgan Freeman’s Rock River Foundation, have kicked off the Delta Youth Writing Contest for students in grades 7 through 12. Eligible counties are Warren, Issaquena, Sharkey, Yazoo, Washington, Desoto, Humphreys, Carroll, Panola, Quitman, Bolivar, Coahoma, Leflore, Sunflower, Tunica, Tallahatchie and Holmes.

“This contest is to celebrate students’ work,”  said Teresa Lynn, head of the Vicksburg chapter of the Mississippi Writers Guild.

Students can submit a fictional short story in any genre. Entries must be 2,500 words or less, typed in double-space format with 12-point New Times Roman font. A cover page with the student’s information and story title must be attached.

Judges will choose a first-, second- and third-place winner, along with one high school senior who wants to study literary arts at a Mississippi college. That student will receive a $1,000 scholarship and free admission to the 2010 MWG writers conference.

The other winners will also receive scholarships and free conference admission. Winners will be notified in March.

Also included in the prize package is the opportunity for each winner to read his or her piece at a March 27 launch event for the anthology “Delta Blues” at Freeman’s Ground Zero Club in Clarksdale.

Featured in the anthology will be fiction works by Mississippi authors John Grisham and Ace Atkins. The compilation will be edited by Mississippi author Carolyn Haines and the foreword written by Freeman.

“We want students to get excited about who’s involved, like Morgan Freeman and John Grisham,” Lynn said.

An anthology of the winning students’ works will be published, and each winner will receive one. Vicksburg artist and downtown gallery owner H.C. Porter will contribute the cover design.

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Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com