The Junior League of Elizabeth-Plainfield is sponsoring a writing contest open to children of all ages, with the winning stories to be performed by a live improvisation children's theater troupe, the nationally-known Story Pirates on March 8, 2013 at a venue in the Union County area.

Story Pirates, a nationally respected education and media organization founded in 2003, is based in Los Angeles and New York City, where professional actors and comedians entertain audiences of all ages with stories previously written by children. This dynamic group, which was praised by Jon Stewart during an appearance on The Larry King Show and, makes guest appearances on the “Absolutely Mindy Show” on Sirius radio and has implemented professional development programs for teachers at over 200 schools coast to coast.

For more information about Story Pirates, visit their website at www.storypirates.org.

The rules for the writing contest are as follows:

1. The stories must be completely original and cannot feature well-known characters or storylines, such Star Wars, Hannah Montana, or Spiderman.
2. The stories must be written entirely by kids. Adults must not write, co-write, edit, or even correct their children's stories. The stories should be submitted in the kid's own syntax, exactly as written or dictated to an adult. There is no minimum or maximum length.
3. There is no entry fee for submitting a story.
4. The stories must include the following information:
   - The child’s name
   - The child’s grade level
   - The name of the child’s school
   - The name of a parent or guardian
   - Contact information, including a home or cell phone number and email address
5. All stories must be received by the Junior League by 5:00 PM on January 4, 2013. The mailing address is:

Attn: Story Pirates Writing Contest
c/o Junior League of Elizabeth-Plainfield
110 Walnut Avenue
Cranford, NJ 07016

1. The stories to be performed by the Story Pirates will be selected by the Story Pirates, with their decision being final. The children writing the winning stories that are performed by Story Pirates on March 8 will be recognized at the event.

Proceeds from the March 8 Story Pirates show will be used to support the projects of the Junior League of Elizabeth-Plainfield, a service organization that is committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action
and leadership of trained volunteers. For more information, contact Jessica Stewart at (908) 928-9680 or by email at jws565@gmail.com.