2009 TORRANCE LEGACY CREATIVE WRITING AWARDS

Torrance Legacy Creative Writing Awards
Awards Recipients Announced!

View the list of top entries.

DESCRIPTION:   Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. (STS), The Center for the Gifted at National-Louis University, The National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC), The National Association of Gifted Children Creativity Division, and the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development invite students to submit their best creative work to help celebrate the great legacy of educator/creativity pioneer Dr. E. Paul Torrance.

ACCEPTED GENRES: Poetry and Short Stories

Poetry submissions must focus on either “The wonder and wisdom of nature” or “What do you see in nature and how do you respond to it”?
Short stories must focus on one of the following creative themes: “Singing in One’s Own Key”, “Shaking Hands with Tomorrow”, “What is Magic” or “The Flying Monkey”. Students are encouraged to freely interpret these themes. Please also note that there is a 1,250 word limit for stories.

ELIGIBILITY: Students in grades 4 through 12 (specify the grade in which the student will be enrolled in as of September 2009). Please note, participants need not be enrolled in gifted programs.

PRIZES:    One grand prize winner from either category will be selected as well as five other genre winners and six runners-up in each genre. The grand prize winner will receive a $50 cash prize, creativity book, publication of his/her submission, NAGC Convention registration for his/her teacher, and NAGC Parent Membership for one of the participant’s parents. First place winners will receive a cash prize of $50 as well as publication of their entries. Second place winners will receive publication of their entries.

DEADLINES: We will begin accepting submissions on May 1, 2009. All submissions must be received by August 24, 2009.
RULES and SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:     Click ‘Download Rules and Entry Form‘ for rules and guidelines for all entries.

For more information or general questions, contact Scott Rich at Scholastic Testing Service, Inc.

2009 Torrance Legacy Creative Writing Awards Update

We are pleased to have received over 200 fantastic submissions from young authors in the US and abroad, all of which focused on unique and creative themes inspired by the creative legacy of Dr. E. Paul Torrance.

As the August 24th submission deadline has passed, the judging process is now in high gear.  All award recipients will be personally notified on or about October 10, 2009, and results will be posted on this website immediately thereafter.  Each participant will also receive a Certificate of Participation in the upcoming weeks, so be sure to check your mailbox.

The Center for Gifted at National-Louis University, The National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC), The National Association of Gifted Children Creativity Division (NAGC-Creativity Division), The Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development, and Scholastic Testing Service, Inc., would like to thank the authors, their parents, and teachers for participating in the 2009 Torrance Legacy Creative Writing Awards.

Fine Arts in Your Curriculum

Is your school teaching Fine Arts? If so, what subject areas? If you are the product of a school system that did have classes in Music (chorus, band, music appreciation, musical instrument instruction) and Art (traditional art instruction, art history, art appreciation, graphic arts), etc., please share with us what difference these classes made in your life.

Gifted Assessment

Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. is pleased to support you in your important role of identification of gifted and talented students. Created by Dr. E. Paul Torrance in 1966, the Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking are the most widely used tests of creativity. The instruments have been translated into more than 35 languages, and remained the most highly recommended and referenced of all creativity tests. The standard administration and streamlined scoring procedure not only make the TTCT useful for identifying creative potential in children, but also for discovering and encouraging creativity in everyday life.

“For the full development of creativity in children and adults, I am convinced they have a better chance in life if their best abilities are identified and encouraged.”    Dr. E. Paul Torrance

For further details on the Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking, please contact us at 1.800.642.6787.

“Prepping” for Gifted Testing

Recently, I received a note from the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented that really surprised me. According to TAGT, there are day care centers in some Texas districts, that rename themselves as preschools. These agencies then order the standardized tests used by districts for the purpose of screening and identifying gifted students.

Certain assessments, including standardized tests, have been recognized as serving districts well in the identification process of potential giftedness in students.When these assessments are used to “prep” students for gifted testing, the security/validity of the testing instruments has been jeopardized by these schools. This is even more disconcerting when you consider that district coordinators have few options when choosing standardized tests/instruments to use in the identification process for giftedness. It is totally inappropriate for districts to attempt to serve students in a gifted program when those students were unfairly advantaged through preliminary test preparation. Districts need to be aware of this practice and monitor their identification processes to insure that truly gifted students are the ones being identified.

 

STS offers products to identify and serve all students who demonstrate high potential and gifted capabilities.We hope that we can all work together to make sure that testing instruments are used appropriately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John D. Kauffman, Ph.D.

Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. 

 

Related links:

• Kindergarten Readiness Test (KRT)

• School Readiness Test (SRT)