MARQUETTE — U.P. students in grades five through 12 who are interested in submitting to the Dandelion Cottage Student Short Story Contest sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association are invited to sign up for a free short story writing workshop. Space is limited to the first 20 students who sign up.

This will be a virtual workshop conducted by UPPAA award-winning author and educator Deborah K. Frontiera. The workshop will take place over three Tuesday evenings: Jan. 5, 12 and 19 at 6 p.m. Eastern time. The timing enables students to have enough time to rewrite or polish their stories before the contest deadline for submission, which is Feb. 5.

The first session will be about story structure, developing a character and starting a first draft. Students will complete their first draft between the first and second sessions. The second session will involve revisions, with Frontiera providing many suggestions for students to examine their stories and improve them. Students will rewrite their drafts before the final session, which will dwell on polishing stories and doing a final edit. In this session, Frontiera will detail the types of spelling, grammar and punctuation errors made most often by students.

Students also may consult with their teachers or others on their stories, but the students themselves must make any suggested changes. Students then give their stories to their language arts teacher, since each teacher in a U.P. public or private school may submit two stories from each class to the contest. Students who are home-schooled should check with their local district for a sponsoring teacher.

The top prize for the Dandelion Cottage Contest is $250 cash for the first-place senior division winner and $150 for junior division winner. Writers pay no fee to enter. Winners also receive a hardbound edition of U.P. Reader in which their stories appear and a commemorative medallion.

The workshop is designed mainly for grades five to eight, but high school students with no experience in writing short fiction and who are interested in learning are welcome to register as well. There is a limit of 20 for workshop participation, so students should register as soon as possible by going to https://uppaa.org/student-workshop/.

For full information on the contest’s submission guidelines, go to the Dandelion Cottage website.