“What will / our daughter / be able / to plant / in this / paradise of / fugitive dust,” writes poet and former Guest Judge Craig Santos Perez. The planet may be in crisis, dear writers, but we must consider what we will plant. Will we sow seeds of change? Or will we use our roots to hold strong to the earth? 

This month, write a piece of creative nonfiction—a genre that blends fact with storytelling, using rich description, reflection, and literary technique to explore real-world experiences—about your home’s environment, while connecting it to the larger forces shaping our planet’s future. You might investigate an oil spill in your state; the election of a climate-forward politician; the flock of seagulls terrorizing the local wharf; a blade of grass behind your house. What you choose to notice, nurture, and narrate will define what takes root in the world to come. And it will require you to grapple with both despair and hope—dust and paradise.

**PRIZES** 

Cash: Winner will receive $100. Runner-Up and Best Peer Review will each receive $50. 

Publication Opportunity: The Winner and Runner-Up will be republished in The Starfish Canada Youth Journal— a fantastic opportunity for our writers to gain wider recognition.

We are immensely grateful to this month’s competition sponsor, Patagonia. (Competition photograph by Andrew Burr.)