by Jamie Rucker, USTA Outreach Administrator

Columbus, OH — Hey kids — grab your pens, pencils, crayons or computers and start your best harness racing story — real or imagined — for your chance to win cash prizes in the 2007 Marie Hill Youth Writing Award contest. The deadline for entries is August 10, 2007.

The contest, created by and named for harness racing author Marie Hill, is open to youth ages 16 or younger. There are two age categories, ages 12 and under and ages 13–16. Entries can be in the form of short stories, articles or essays about Standardbred horses and/or harness racing. The subject may be horses, people, historical figures and/or issues affecting our sport. Entries can be either fiction or non-fiction. The winning entries will be published in Youth Beats magazine.

$500 goes to the winning author in the 13-16 age category, and $250 goes to the winning author of the 12 and under category. Second-place winning authors will each receive $100. Third-place authors will receive $75 each. Three honorable mentions in each category will receive $25. All entrants will receive a certificate of participation and a goody bag of horse books and videos to encourage them to keep reading and writing about horses.

The contest is sponsored by the U.S. Trotting Association, Marie Hill and Christopher and Virginia Schick, Standardbred owners from California. Additionally, the goody bags are sponsored by the Hambletonian Society, Farlink Satellite Services, and the N.J. Chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers Association.

Marie Hill, a native of New Brunswick, Canada, is the author of books on Adios, Single G., Delvin Miller and Joe O’Brien. Hill created the award to encourage young people to write about her beloved sport and its greatest heroes.

The maximum length of entries is 1,000 words. One entry per person will be accepted. The subject of each entry must be harness racing and/or Standardbred horses. The entry must be the original, unpublished work of the author, who must be 16 years of age or younger on August 10, 2007. All contestants must be members of the USTA, and USTA Youth membership is FREE!

Each entry must be accompanied by an official entry form or cover page indicating entrant’s name, address, phone number, date of birth, e-mail address and signature for statement of honest work. Online entries may be accepted by clicking on this link.

Entries will be judged on content, accuracy of harness racing references and spelling and grammar.

For questions, more information or a printable entry form, please contact USTA toll free at 1-877-800-8782, ext. 3260 or e-mail sep@ustrotting.com. Mailed entries may be submitted to: USTA, c/o MHYWA, 750 Michigan Avenue, Columbus OH 43215.