Utah English Quest
Utah English Quest is a language arts festival designed to celebrate
and promote all areas of literacy. This festival, held annually in the
spring, encourages and rewards Utah students' excellence in reading, writing,
speaking, presenting, filming, drawing, and acting. The contests showcase
students' expression and expertise in their use of language and communication.
All Utah students in grades 9-12 are invited to participate in this opportunity to share and present their language arts talents and abilities.
Watch a short video advertisement about Utah English Quest below, or you may click here to view the video on TeacherTube.com
(video taken at the 2009 Utah English Quest competition)
Competition Information
How to Enter Your Student Team
Event Schedule
- Check-in: 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
- Opening Assembly: 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
- Judges Meeting: 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
- Event 1: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
- Event 2: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
- Event 3: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
- Best Performances: 2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
- Closing Assembly: 2:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
2010 Competition Booklist
- Our Quest books for 2010 were selected by ninth graders at Springville Junior who researched and read book reviews on the top YA novels, then voted for their favorites:
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
This classic novel was written in 1897 and the main character, Count Dracula, has been inspiring countless movies, books, and plays ever since. Few, if any, have been fully fiathful to Stoker's original nove of mystery and horror, love and death, sin and redemption. In it, Stoker created a new word for terror, a new myth to feed our nightmares, and a character who will outlive us all. 378 pages
- Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
This novel, the first of the Mistborn Trilogy, turns the fantasy genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails? What kind of world results when the Dark Lord is in charge? The answer will be found in this saga of surprises and magical martial-arts action. 541 pages
- Godless by Pete Hautman
Jason Bock, together with his three friends, decide to start a new religion with a new god - the town's water tower. As their religion grows, it takes on a life of its own. While Jason struggles to keep the faith pure, Henry Stagg schemes to make it even more exciting - and dangerous. Jason soon realizes that inventing a religion is a lot easier than controling it, but control it he must, before his creation destoys both his friends and himself. 198 pages
- An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Colin Singleton can't understand why every girl that dumps him just happens to be named Katherine. He embarks on a quest to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictabiity, which will impact all of his future relationships and change his life. 227 pages
- Six Days in October by Karen Blumenthal
Over six terrifying, desperate days in October 1929, the fabulous fortune that Americans had built in stocks plunged with a fervor never seen before. At first, the drop seemed like a mistake, a mere glitch in the system. But as the decline gathered steam, so did the destruction. Over twenty-five billion dollars in individual wealth was lost, vanished, gone. Investing in the stock market would never be the same. This acclaimed YA nonfiction by a Wall Street Journal bureau chief chronicles the six-day period that brought the country to its knees. 156 pages
- On your mark, get set, READ!
Click here to recommend a novel for next year's booklist
View a List of Previous Quest Books
Back to top
Contest Categories
Click on the description of each event to view a copy of the scoring rubric, if available.
NOTE: In all art events, there will be a digital division for art created with computers.
For the art events which involve participation in an interview (poster, book cover, photo journalism, and movie trailer),
click here to view the
interview scoring guide.
- BOOK COVERS*
- Entrants will design a book cover for one of the titles on the book list
with the intent to entice readers or market the book. The cover may not exceed 8 1/2" x 14".
View Scoring Guide
- CHARACTER SKETCH WRITING
- Entrants will write a descriptive character sketch from a given
prompt or topic (50 minutes). Best handwriting and double-spacing
is required.
View Scoring Guide
- EDITING TEST
- Entrants will be given a two-page document to edit in 15 minutes.
They will also be given a multiple choice test over grammar, punctuation, parts of speech, spelling, capitalization and subject-verb agreement (30 minutes).
- INFORMATIVE SPEAKING
- Entrants will present original speeches of no longer than five minutes on
a current topic. Entrants may incorporate visual aids into their
speeches. Notes are limited to 3 x 5 cards.
View Scoring Guide
- LITERATURE TEST*
- Entrants will answer ten multiple choice questions from each of the books on the book list (50 minutes).
To enter this contest, participants must have read all five books.
- MOVIE TRAILER*
- Entrants will choose one book from the English Quest book list. Each student (or team of students) will prepare a video trailer of his/her chosen book. The trailer should be at least three minutes in length, but no more than five minutes long. The trailer must meet
your high school and/or school district standards and be a positive presentation of the subject.
The trailer's purpose should be to interest the viewer in the book.
The trailer must contain original footage and should not contain music
from the motion picture soundtrack (when applicable). View Scoring Guide
- PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING
- Entrants will write a personal experience relating to a suggested topic (50 minutes).
Best handwriting and double-spacing is required.
View Scoring Guide
- PERSUASIVE WRITING
- Entrants will write a persuasive essay from a prompt (50 minutes).
Best handwriting and double-spacing is required.
View Scoring Guide
- PHOTO ESSAY*
- Photo essays will depict themes or scenes from one of the books on the book list.
Essays should have a minimum of six original photographs and may include
quotes or phrases taken from the represented book.
View Scoring Guide
- POETRY RECITATION
- Entrants memorize and orally deliver published poem(s) by recognized poet(s). Several poems may be combined if an introduction presents the theme. Time limit is between two to five minutes.
View Scoring Guide
- POETRY SLAM
- Entrants will perform only work which they have created. Only one poem (on any appropriate subject and in any style) may be performed during a poet's turn. Props, musical instruments, prerecorded music, costumes, or any other objects of any kind may NOT be used. A poet may "riff off" another poet's creative work, but may not "rip off" that work. The performer may interact verbally/physically with the audience. Teams of two, three or four can compete with collaborative pieces, as long as all of the primary authors perform them.
Competitor(s) will have a maximum of three minutes to present a poem.
View Scoring Guide
- POETRY WRITING
- Entrants will compose a poem based on a prompt or theme. The
poem must be a minimum of eight lines (50 minutes). Best
handwriting and double-spacing is required.
View Scoring Guide
- POSTERS
- Posters must be at least 12" x 12" and depict some aspect of language arts.
The medium used is option.
View Scoring Guide
- READERS THEATER
- Entering teams perform a cutting from a piece of literature that tells a story. Performance may be no longer than five minutes.
View Scoring Guide
- SHAKESPEARE MONOLOGUE
- Entrants will prepare and perform a monologue, no longer than 5 minutes in length, from a Shakespeare play.
View Scoring Guide
- SHAKESPEARE SCENE
- Entrants will prepare and perform a scene from one of Shakespeare's plays, no longer than 5 minutes.
View Scoring Guide
- SPELLING BEE
- Each school will hold its own event, with winners advancing to the state Quest. Each
school entered will receive a copy of the basic spelling list.
- STORYTELLING
- Entrants share memorized traditional stories from any culture or source with audience and judges. Story presentations
should be a minimum of 3 minutes, but may not be longer than five minutes.
View Scoring Guide
- VOCABULARY
- Entrants will take a multiple choice test over vocabulary words both in context and in isolation. The test may include analogies, synonyms, antonyms and other techniques for demonstrating knowledge of meaning (50 minutes).
*Students entering Book Cover, Movie Trailer, and Photo Journalism contests must base their entry on one of the books on the competition booklist above.
Students entering the literature competition must read all books on the list.
Back to Top
|