The New Jersey Association for Lifelong Learning (NJALL) is holding its fifth annual adult learner writing contest.  This year we will award cash prizes in five categories - fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry and photography. Several winners will be invited to read their work and receive their awards at the annual NJALL conference on May 10th, 2019.  All of the winners' and selected other submissions will be published in a free magazine that will be available from our website in the summer of 2019.  Winners and their teachers/tutors will receive printed copies of the magazine. 

Please let us know if you are interested in being a reviewer
or if you have any questions.
​njallmail@gmail.com 

Earlier this year NJALL held its fourth annual adult learner writing contest. All of the winners and selected other submissions have been collected in a magazine entitled Insight. You can download a free pdf of the magazine at the link below. The five entry categories were fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry and photography. 
Several winners read and discussed their work during a workshop at the annual NJALL conference.   We hope you will use the magazine in your classes and your volunteer lessons. 
We'd like to thank all of the students who participated and all of the teachers and tutors that made it possible. Every year it is an honor to read the students' work, and we are happy to be able to share it with you now.

On June 22, we celebrated our two newest scholarship award winners, Katie Land and Ruth Rivera.  Scholarship winners from previous years gave advice to help them keep going as they pursue their goals through higher education.  NJALL board members, committee members, winners' family, teachers and supporters, as well as members of the community wish Katie and Ruth well!

Please join us  as we award and celebrate our 2018 Scholarship Winners, Katherine Land and Ruth Rivera.  The Awards Ceremony and Breakfast will be on June 22 at Mercer County Community College Conference Center, 1200 Old Trenton Rd, West Windsor, NJ 08550, 9:30-11:30 AM.

Katherine "Katie" Land is from West Long Branch, NJ.  She prepared for her High School Diploma at Brookdale Youth GED and Career Pathways Program and now attends Brookdale Community College.

Ruth Rivera is from Elizabeth, NJ and will attend Union County College.  She studied for her High School Diploma with Literacy New Jersey at the Elizabeth Public Library.

COST: ONLY $15.00 per person
Deadline to sign up: June 14, 2018

For the past four years, NJALL has held a learner writing contest. Each year we
receive about 75 submissions from all around the state. We continue to be humbled by students’ willingness to share their ideas, memories and feelings. As is often the case in adult education, some of the things the writers shared dealt with personal experiences that were life-changing or traumatic. We hope that the writing process is a positive one and that participating in the contest has been an encouraging learning experience.

You can read Insight, volume 3 (2017 submissions) here.
​
Once again this year we have invited some of the contest winners to present
their work at the annual NJALL conference. The learners read from their winning submissions and then take questions from the attendance. Come to the conference on May 11, to hear these presentations for yourself and meet the 2018 contest winners.

Thanks again to all the writers, teachers and reviewers that made this magazine possible.

Erik Jacobson
Chair, NJALL Learner Writing Contest

Scholarships are available for outstanding students who have earned a high school diploma through an adult education program in New Jersey. 

​Adult educators: Will one of your students/graduates win a 2018 NJALL scholarship?  They may not apply unless YOU encourage them to do so.  Students can get the application by clicking on the button below.  The application is available on March 1, 2018 and must be submitted by April 30, 2018.

You can also help students by donating to our Scholarship Fund,  NJALL has been providing scholarships to selected students since 1992.  Each scholarship provides up to $750 per semester for full-time enrollment (pro-rated for part-time) in a higher education program, up to a maximum of $6000 per student.
You can donate on line via our PayPal account, or you can follow this link to get a form with information about sending in a check.

​Last year NJALL held its second annual adult learner writing contest. The five entry categories were fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry and photography.  Several winners read their work and received their awards at the annual NJALL conference on April 8th, 2016.  All of the winners and selected other submissions have now been collected in our magazine entitled Insight. 

You can download a free pdf of the magazine at this link.

We'd like to thank all of the students who participated and all of the teachers and tutors that made it possible. It is an honor to read the students' work, and we are happy to be able to share it with you now.

The call for submissions for this year's contest was distributed and submissions collected.  Come to this year's conference to hear winners read from their work.