15th Annual Writing Carnival

The 14th Annual 24-Hour Reading Marathon and Writing Carnival, featuring The Princess Bride, will be on be held from Monday, September 15 through Tuesday, Sept. 19

Carnival Events

Service Project:

Throughout September: “Once Upon a Time” children’s book donation benefiting the children served through the Children’s Advocacy Center in Lubbock. Requests are for new/like new books. Donation locations in the SUB, the Library, and the EDU buildings. Learn more about the Children's Advocacy Center, dedicated to providing child abuse victims with a friendly, culturally-sensitive, non-threatening and neutral environment that offers support and protection.

Monday, September 16

  • 11 a.m. — Dr. Hawley's chapel presentations over Fairy Tales
  • 11:30 a.m. — 24-Hour Reading Marathon begins
    Students are invited to read along or listen throughout the day and evening; pizza and drinks will be served to our evening guests, and students are invited to camp out on the mall throughout the night.
    • Midnight reading by President McDowell
    • Live Coverage by Chap Radio
  • 8-9 p.m. — LEGO – Rebuilding Fairy Tales
    builders will use provided LEGO bricks to see how quickly each can create a LEGO construction related to a fairy tale scene, character, or item; students will have a time limit. Prizes!
    • sponsored by Bricks and MiniFigs Lubbock
  • 8:30 p.m. — Fairy Tales Costume Contest in front of the SUB
  • 9:00 p.m. — Screening of Tangled in front of the SUB
    • Intermission with movie-themed drinks and snacks

Tuesday, September 17

  • 11 a.m. — Dr. Hawley's chapel presentations over Fairy Tales
  • 11:30 a.m. — 24-Hour Reading Marathon concludes
  • 11:30 a.m. — Writing Carnival Begins
    • Carnival Food provided by LCU Dining Services
    • Fairy Tale and writing-themed games, trivia, contests, and more throughout the LCU Mall

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Carnival Events

  • Fairy Tales Mad Libs:
    Participants will use their creativity to create an original fairy tale by inserting a selected word or phrase in each blank for each category.
  • Fairy Tales Family Feud: 
    Participants will guess the answers to a set of fairy-tale related questions and then earn points when their responses most closely match the responses given to the same set of questions by 100 people surveyed. Can YOU guess the most popular answers?
  • Fairy Tales Escape Room Quest:
    Solve a series of puzzles and riddles as you unlock clues that might lead you to your own fairy tale ending. Here’s hoping you and your team live happily ever after!
  • Find Your Fairy or Dragon Name:
    Participants will use the prompts to create their fairy or dragon name and walk away with a fairy tale inspired nametag.
  • The 6-Word Story
    Ernest Hemingway’s friend once bet him that he couldn’t produce a legitimate story in six words. On a napkin, he scribbled: “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.” He won the bet, and from this legend, our 6-word story contest was born. Participants will be asked to create original 6-word stories.
  • The Caption Contest:
    Carnival-goers will be asked to write a caption to accompany a series of 4 photographs.
  • The Haiku:
    Participants will create original haiku.  Haiku means “light verse” and is a non-rhymed poem with 5 syllables in the first sentence, 7 syllables in the second sentence, and 5 syllables in the last sentence.
  • Magnetic Poetry: 
    Using the words in magnetic poetry kits, participants will create original poems.
  • Sidewalk Chalk:
    Pick up a piece of chalk, pick a “square” of sidewalk, and let the dust fly.
  • Board Games:
    Find a few friends, pull up some chairs, and challenge each other to word games like Scrabble and Boggle that celebrate the creativity of our language.
  • Creative Writing Club: Skee-Ball Game - Fundraiser