Photo: “Write the Good Future” contest creators (l to r) Maribeth Benner and Diana McClure. Photo provided. 

A new contest launched in 2017 invites people from third grade on up to write creative fiction that envisions a hopeful, ecologically sound future.

Almost five years ago, Maribeth Benner, the creator of the contest, found herself wishing for juvenile and young adult fiction that painted a hopeful vision for the future. As a parent to two preteens, Benner was aware of the immense popularity of young adult fiction series like the wildly popular Hunger Games and Divergent trilogies, which paint a dystopian and bleak vision of the future.

“I can tell why these books sell well,” said Benner in a Nov. 13, 2017, phone interview. “They are really intense and are dramatic because their plots have an element of fear. They also depict a future that’s dark and bleak. I see that kind of book and I wonder, What does that kind of story do to our motivation to care for our earth, and how are people understanding themselves and their need to invest in sustainable living?”

Benner says she also developed a clear sense of God’s desire for humans to work toward a future in hope as a student studying biblical and theological texts at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, and then later as a pastor at Salford Mennonite Church in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.

“As I was preaching, studying Scripture and reading different theologians, I came to a strong conviction that God wants us to be building a hopeful and sustainable earth for ourselves. It’s how God created us as stewards of the earth and as persons who were formed out of the clay of the ground,” she said. “It’s also what is named in Revelation as this beautiful picture of nations coming together and people living in peace. There’s a sense of beauty and vibrancy on the earth. I’m longing for that picture to be a part of what popular culture is engaging with as well.”

Benner took a class at Penn State University on teaching writing, and as part of the class she was instructed to write an argumentative piece. For the assignment, she decided to write a letter to J.K. Rowling, author of the popular Harry Potter series, asking her to write more hopeful fiction. With the encouragement of her professor, Benner decided to actually send the letter to Rowling and adapted it to send to other young adult writers as well.

Although not all writers responded, many of those who did encouraged Benner to consider writing this type of fiction herself or encouraging others to do so. Benner talked with her children’s teachers and met with her Penn State professor to brainstorm ideas for encouraging the writing of more hopeful fiction, and the idea of the contest was born. Benner received a grant from Salford to help make the contest possible.

The contest has four age brackets, with each group offering first-, second- and third-place prizes and cash for the winners. The story prompt invites writers to “write a fictional story that takes place in the future and shows how humans and the earth ​are supporting each other ​in hopeful, healthy ways.” The winning stories will also be posted on the contest website, www.writethegoodfuture.org.

Benner, along with Diana McClure, a friend who volunteered to help with logistics and advertising, has advertised the contest in local Pennsylvania schools and with fliers in public places such as the library. Benner also hopes that social media outlets and word of mouth promotions will help to spread the contest nationwide.

But most of all, Benner hopes the fiction and writing that is produced through the contest will provide encouragement to people in their role in building a hopeful, sustainable future. She cites Isaiah 43:1-3a as a passage that has inspired this work:

“But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

“In this passage, the prophet speaks of the exiled people returning to the homeland before it has even happened. I think that text gave the people hope to be able to return to their homeland,” said Benner. “That’s what words and stories can do for us. They can build that kind of picture for us. Even before we have changed all the way to wind power and solar power and done everything we need to do to care about and slow down climate change, we can begin to imagine our future with hope.”

The plan is that the contest will be an annual occurrence.

Entries in the 2017-2018 contest are due by Jan. 15. More information can be found at www.writethegoodfuture.org.