Writing Contest

Welcome to the Writing Contest of One Voice Magazine, in partnership with School of Tomorrow®, Philippines.

WRITING MECHANICS

There are four categories:

English Testimony
Filipino Testimony
English Poetry
Filipino Poetry

A student can only submit once in a category. A student may join all four categories, but s/he should only submit one entry per category.

MECHANICS FOR TESTIMONIES:

  1. Each testimony should be written from the first-person point of view.
  2. Each testimony should be 700-800 words long.
  3. Each testimony should come with 3-5 photographs that highlight the journey of the person’s testimony. Pictures can come from old stock, personal photos. They can also come from free stock photos from websites like pixabay.com. If you get from free stock photos on the internet, kindly credit the photographer.
  4. Each testimony should end with a short 2-3 line biography of the writer and 2-3 lines about the school of the writer.
  5. The testimony should reflect the magazine’s theme, Honoring Our Roots.
  6. The testimony can either be in English or Filipino.
  7. The testimony should not have won in a previous contest and should not have been published elsewhere.

MECHANICS FOR POEMS:

  1. Poems can take whatever point-of-view (first, second, or third person POV).
  2. Poems should contain between 8-20 lines.
  3. Poems should reflect the theme, Honoring Our Roots.
  4. Poems can be lyric or narrative.
  5. Poems do not need to have end-rhymes, but they do need to have musicality.
  6. Poems can either be in English or Filipino.
  7. Poems should not have won in a previous contest and should not have been published elsewhere.

Works should be sent in both MS Word Document and in PDF formats, with font style Times New Roman, size 12. They should have a 1-inch margin on each side and be double-spaced. Please include the student’s name and school name on each written work.

Deadline for submission is on June 30, 2025. Please give the judges around one month to evaluate all entries before releasing an announcement of the winners. Winning schools and individuals will be contacted.

Winners will receive prizes from our sponsors. Also, there will be some works that may not win, but One Voice Magazine editors may deem them publishable online or in print. Schools will be informed if their students’ works are to be published.

Testimonies and poems written via ChatGPT are strictly prohibited. An entry using ChatGPT or any artificial intelligence app to compose the written work will be disqualified and will automatically disqualify ALL entries fielded by the same school.

The judges of this contest are published authors and/or editors.

For schools to take part in the inter-school writing contest, there is a registration fee of P1,500.00, with an early bird rate of P1,000.00 (for those who register by May 15, 2025). With this amount, schools can field a maximum total of 10 writers into the contest, provided these writers are students in high school and/or senior high school. Deadline for registration is on June 30, 2025. Please note that the school’s name will be acknowledged in the publishing of the testimony/poem.

Each submission should include a writer’s affidavit of original work. This will be emailed to you after the registration payment has been made.

For any queries on the contest, please email us at info@onevoicemagazine.com.

Please accomplish one registration form per school. Please click this link to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqOclIsSnuUUSW8Z3QhOavPoSs8XsyOV35-6NchLpu05K9NA/viewform