By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
“Dorothy said, ‘There’s no place like home,’ but maybe everybody is sick of being at home,” said Colleen Zimmer, co-director of the Oz-stravaganza festival in Chittenango.
While the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of Oz-stravaganza 2020, you can still whisk yourself away to the faraway Land of Oz with the Royal Historian of Oz Writing Contest. (See sidebar for more information on how to enter.)
“We wanted to keep the writing contest going because it was something that we could still have safely and not taken away,” Zimmer said.”
For about a decade, Oz-stravaganza has invited aspiring authors ranging from fourth grade to adults to create their own stories about the Land of Oz, created by L. Frank Baum, who was born in Chittenango.
Royal Historian of Oz Writing Contest rules
There are five categories for entrants: 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th/7th grade, 8th-12th grades, and adult group. Prizes will be awarded in each category by the International Wizard of Oz Club.
The story must be about the Land of Oz and the characters that live and visit there. You can use L. Frank Baum’s characters, create your own Oz characters or use a combination of both to create your Land of Oz story. Each story must have a title and the word limit is 500 words or fewer.
Visit oz-stravaganza.com and click on “Writing Contest” to download the registration form and full rules. Mail your story and completed form to Oz-Stravaganza! Royal Historian of Oz Writing Contest P. O. Box 456, Chittenango, NY 13037. All entries must be postmarked by midnight on May 11, 2020.
“We get entries every year nationwide,” said Zimmer. “This is open to anybody that wants to do it. It’s not just a local thing.”
Mark Zane, a sociology professor at Onondaga Community College, coordinates a group of judges to read the 350 to 450 entries the contest receives.
Normally, the winning stories are read onstage at Oz-stravaganza and teachers whose students enter the contest have a chance at winning a pizza party for their classes. This year, winners will have to celebrate from a distance. The winning entries will be posted on Oz-stravaganza’s website and Facebook pages, and the International Wizard of Oz Club will mail out prizes.
“They’re different Oz books. One year they were Oz journals and pens, and there’s different books depending on the age group,” Zimmer said of the prizes.
Many writers choose to use characters from Baum’s 14 Oz books, but some create original characters or even insert themselves into their stories.
“They’ll take the basic Oz and then the directions that people take it off into — the creativity is just amazing,” Zimmer said. “Baum wrote ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and that’s the characters that everybody knows, but he also wrote 13 sequels. Sometimes people bring themselves into the story and that’s kind of cool too.”
Zimmer predicts the coronavirus pandemic might inspire a few plotlines.
“I’m guessing there’s going to be a pandemic in some of our stories this year,” she said.
Above all, Zimmer encourages contest hopefuls to let their creativity flow.
“‘The Wizard of Oz’ is the American fairy tale, and I think it was all about imagination and creativity,” she said.
