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Teen writers with pubs or teen writing comp wins are just as much of a part of the teen writing community as someone without any of those things. We have to take everyone into account without us looking down at people without comp wins, or looking up at people who HAVE comp wins.
Comp winners are totally allowed to say stuff about the toxicity of the teen writing world. Sure, we gotta stop going nuts for these competitions. But people who have won them in the past aren't immune to the toxicity! In fact it might be even worse for people who've won.
This issue affects all of us. Everyone will eventually age out of the teen writing world, but your experience while in it shapes you. The people you meet and the experiences you have with submitting to publications and to competitions and getting accepted and rejected shapes you.
As for myself, I have one (1) teen comp win. Teen Sequins. I include my accomplishments in my bio ffs. I'm guilty of "worshipping" teen writers with high-profile pubs and award wins. So many teen writers are. Because we want to be like them! We want to be taken just as seriously!
I would love to say something funny in my bio, you know? Something that isn't oh, I did the Detroit Mentorship or oh, I got a poem in Lol Haha Review. But people want to see my accomplishments first. So I put them there. Am I proud of what I've accomplished thus far? Absolutely.
Have I benefited from my small successes? Yeah. But teen writers who don't have this stuff should totally be taken seriously 
literallyjust forwriting! I've said some stuff about this in the past because I felt it just kinda needed to be said. https://twitter.com/OttaviaPaluch/status/1318187716815835137
literallyjust forwriting! I've said some stuff about this in the past because I felt it just kinda needed to be said. https://twitter.com/OttaviaPaluch/status/1318187716815835137
I think those of us with lots of pubs can learn from those who have little/none. The vast majority of teen writers without super stacked bios write because they really, truly love to do it. They start litmags because they care about making their community better and less toxic.
All I'm saying is we have to care about the voices of comp winners and we have to care about the voices of those who have never won comps—in general, just the supportive, talented voices that value this community and don't use it for college clout. Be that voice!
End of thread.
End of thread.
