Power of the Pen creative writing program holds creative writing tournaments throughout Ohio at the district, regional and state levels. The nonprofit organization provides supporting materials for team meetings, enabling students to sharpen their writing skills as they prepare for tournaments. Power of the Pen practices improves students’ writing skills, confidence, and ability to collaborate with others. The competitions provide students with extra incentive to build their skills.

Each year, qualifying writers from 18 district tournaments (usually the top 50%) advance to nine regional events. Approximately 20% of those students move on to the state tournament. Competitions consist of three extemporaneous rounds of creative writing tasks, each in response to an open-ended prompt. Judges evaluate the students’ work to identify the winners who will be recognized in an awards ceremony.

The district tournament is part of the Northwest Region of Power of the Pen (at Ohio State Lima) which includes Allen, Auglaize, Defiance, Fulton, Hardin, Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Mercer, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Shelby, Williams, Wood, Wyandot and Van Wert counties. Schools that cannot attend the tournament at Lima on Jan 21, 2023 may choose to compete instead at Tiffin Middle School in Tiffin on February 4.

These district tournaments are followed by a regional tournament at Lourdes University in Sylvania on March 11 for students who qualify. The state tournament for qualifiers will be held May 18-19, 2023 at Ashland University.

Power of the Pen is Ohio’s original interscholastic creative writing program for middle schools, seventh and eighth grade students in Ohio.