Your Rocky Top experiences and recollections—whether as a student, alumnus or fan—could be part of a new children’s interactive electronic book that will be produced by UT.
The UT Rocky Top Institute is seeking short stories for its upcoming children’s book, Tales from Rocky Top. Three winners will be chosen and their work published in the first edition of the book. Each winner will also receive a $1,000 cash prize.
The submission deadline is April 15. Entries are to be submitted electronically to rhtmast@utk.edu.
Stories will be accepted from current UT students and alumni. They also will be accepted from Bearden High School students in Knox County. Because this is the inaugural year of the contest, the institute worked with the Knox County school system to select Bearden as the pilot high school with the intent to expand the contest to all Knox County and surrounding high schools in coming years.
Submitted stories must be a maximum of 1,000 words and convey the meaning of Rocky Top from the author’s perspective. They must be geared toward children in preschool to primary grades and be designed to be read aloud.
Winners will be notified by May 15. Once the stories have been selected, the UT Pride of the Southland Marching Band will record the background music for the electronic book. A local artist also will be chosen to illustrate it. Over the summer, students in the UT School of Journalism and Electronic Media will put all the pieces together, and the final product is expected to be available for purchase in the fall. The book will be developed as an app.
For more information about the contest, guidelines, and submission forms, visit the Rocky Top Institute website.
The UT Rocky Top Institute was established in 2011 as a partnership with Dane and Del Bryant, the heirs of the writers of UT’s fight song, Rocky Top. The institute allows students in the UT Department of Retail and Consumer Sciences to further develop the Rocky Top brand by creating products that are sold. Proceeds from the products are divided between UT and the Bryant family. The UT portion is split between the Pride of the Southland Marching Band and the Department of Retail and Consumer Sciences and supports scholarships, fellowships, and projects.
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CONTACTS:
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)
Nancy Rutherford (865-603-2344, nruth@utk.edu)