Teen Winter Reading Raffle

Forget Ned Stark- winter is HERE.  And rabid readers should be rejoicing.  The blustery weather provides the perfect excuse to just burrow down, deep into blankets and snuggle up with a good book.  Winter break provides you with the time off from school to spend the entire day and night reading to your heart’s content.  And all of those “best of” lists that get published at the end of every year provides a zillion new titles to add to what is probably already a very long “to read” list.

If you plan on spending your winter break with a huge stack of awesome books, then you need to know about our Teen Winter Reading Raffle!  How it works:

• Beginning Sunday, December 15, 2013, visit your CLP Teen Specialist and pick up a reading log.
• Fill out one reading log for every five hours that you read.
• Return the reading logs to your CLP Teen Specialist by Wednesday, January 15, 2014.
• For every 5 hours you read, your name will be automatically entered into a raffle for your chance to win prizes including books and gift cards!  The more you read, the more chances you have to win!

To be eligible, you must be between the ages of 12 and 17 or in 6 through 12 grades.  For more information, contact CLP Main- Teens.

Happy reading!

QuickFLIX: Are You The Next Great Film Director?

Are you an aspiring filmmaker? Perhaps you don’t think of yourself that way, but you like to shoot goofy videos with your camera phone. Well, whether your an iPhone auteur or a budding Bergman, you only have have four more days to submit a movie to the QuickFLIX filmmaking contest–CLP-Teen Services one and only movie competition.

As we wrap up the second year of free QuickFLIX filmmaking workshops (all led by talented Pittsburgh Filmmakers artist, Sarah), I’d like to urge all of our readers to step up and submit a video. Don’t be shy–all you have to do is send us a movie (3 minutes or less) to teens@carnegielibrary.org. (You can also upload to YouTube and send us a link, or use a free file sharing site like sendspace if the file is too large.)

What could you win? I’m glad you asked:

Grand Prize: $100 iTunes gift card
2nd Prize: $50 iTunes gift card
3rd Prize: $25 iTunes gift card

You have until Friday at midnight to submit your movie. Need inspiration or want to see what you’re up against? Check out this year’s submissions on the CLP-Teens YouTube channel:

For more details on the contest (rules, how to submit, etc.), click HERE.

Happy movie-making!

– Corey, Digital Learning Librarian

Just Try to Remain Silent: Sign Up for The Silent Library Program

Do you think you could remain silent while someone plucked a hair from inside your nose?  Could you prevent yourself from laughing at the sight of a good friend being fed baby food while dressed in a diaper and bib?  Would you be able to refrain from squealing in horror after seeing yourself made up by a person wearing a blindfold?  If you answered yes to all of these questions, then you could win big on Tuesday, February 7th!  Just like the popular MTV game show, we’ll be holding our own version of Silent Library (minus the vomit) in the Main Teen Center.  We dare you to remain silent while you and your teammates humiliate yourselves whilst attempting outrageous and embarrassing stunts for prizes.  Registration for this event is required.  Reserve your spot today!

Want to participate, but you think you’d die of embarrassment?  Check out these books instead:

How to Survive Anything by Rachel Buchholz

Advice on surviving natural disasters, embarrassing moments, and social situations.

Schadenfreude, Baby!: A Delicious Look at the Misfortune of Others (and the Pleasure It Brings Us)

by Laura Lee

Taps into our universal longing to gawk and smirk at the people who stand—or fall—for all of us.

“What’s That Smell?” (Oh, It’s Me.): 50 Mortifying Situations and How to Deal

by Tucker Shaw

Tips for dealing with the embarrassment that is the teenage years.

Mega Traumarama!: Real Girls and Guys Confess More of Their Most Mortifying Moments!

from the Editors of Seventeen Magazine

Delight in the humiliation of your peers!

Free Stuff Friday

Happy Friday, CLPTeensburghers! And what a lovely Friday it is. You know what would make it better? A $10 gift card to Target, Barnes & Noble, or Eat n’ Park! If you’re a Pittsburgh area teen, all you have to do is be the first to post a comment on the blog (any post but a Free Stuff Friday post) and you win! Sooooooo easy.

Update: David S. is this week’s winner. Congrats, David!


Free Stuff Friday

Welcome to another Free Stuff Friday, friends. Be the first TEEN today to comment on any CLPTeensburgh blog post and win a $10 gift card (Target, Barnes & Noble, or Eat n’ Park).

Yep, it’s that simple. : )

UPDATE: Tim’s our winner this week. Congrats, Tim! Everyone else, check back often for reviews, giveaways, and more! If you’re on Twitter, follow us @CLP_Teens and get updates quick!

Free Stuff Friday-Not an April Fool’s joke!

You know the drill, my friends. Be the first TEEN today to comment on any CLPTeensburgh blog post and win a $10 gift card (Target, Barnes & Noble, or Eat n’ Park).

And THIS WEEK ONLY, you also win a copy of author Heather Terrell‘s new book Fallen Angel!

When sixteen-year-old Ellie meets up with a boy from her past, she discovers that the two of them share inexplicable powers and that they are somehow involved in an ancient conflict among fallen angels that forces them to choose sides, with terrible repercussions.






Win a trip to France: International Heritage Photographic Experience

You want to go to France? Here’s your mission: Capture Southwestern Pennsylvania in one shot!

Entries Accepted Now through April 15!

The International Heritage Photographic Experience (IHPE) is an international photo-taking competition for youth that aims to promote rich heritage through creative photographs. Their photos celebrate historic buildings and gardens, rural and urban landscapes, and popular and refined architecture with recognized monumental value or outstanding beauty. Last year Pittsburgh was the first U.S. city to ever participate in IHPE.

Youth ages 14 – 21 from Southwestern Pennsylvania can celebrate their home region’s monumental heritage by taking and entering a photograph in the IHPE Pittsburgh photo competition.

IHPE Pittsburgh 2010 winners were Ben Page, age 18, and Nicole DeSantis, age 20. As winners, Ben and Nicole won a trip to the Palace of Europe for the annual IHPE Awards Ceremony in Strasbourg, France. Learn more about their European experience here:

Ben Page’s IHPE Flickr set and ‘Nicole DeSantis is in France’ Blog

Their winning photographs were also included in the IHPE Photo Exhibition held in every participating country in September 2010 and were published in the IHPE Catalog.

Entries Accepted Now through April 15!

Give it your best “shot” (bad pun, I know) and win a chance at an amazing journey. 

Corey – CLP, Main

Free Stuff Friday begins…

NOW!!!!

Be the first TEEN to post a comment on any post other than this one and win a $10 gift card! (Make sure you leave your name and e-mail address!)

Update: Elena J. is this week’s big winner. Congrats, Elena! Check back next Friday your chance to win.


!!Free Stuff Friday!!

You know what to do! Be the first TEEN to comment on any other post (i.e. not this one) and you win a gift card! (Gift cards are for Target, Barnes & Noble, Eat n’ Park.)

UPDATE: Caleb is this week’s big winner! Congratulations, Caleb!

Tomorrow is the 2nd Free Stuff Friday!

That’s right — you have another chance to win a $10 gift card to either Target, Barnes & Noble, or Eat n’ Park TOMORROW for Free Stuff Friday! However, there have been some questions about how it works. So, here are a few simple rules!

1. The first person to post a comment wins.
2. You can only win once. (Sorry, Hannah D — you’ll always be our first winner!)
3. Comments can be posted on ANY POST!
4. BUT comments only count after the Free Stuff Friday post goes up tomorrow morning. Once you see we’ve posted, please comment on any other post (comments will be disabled on the Free Stuff Friday post itself).
5. Make sure you leave your NAME and E-Mail address on your comment so that we can contact you! (Feel free to also let us know which library you frequent the most.)

Make sense? I sure do hope so. Leave a comment if you have any questions and I’ll be sure to answer before the contest starts tomorrow morning. Check back in the morning and WIN!

Corey
CLP, Main