Fair Bear Creative Writing Competition

This competition is a themed contest open to fourth, fifth, and sixth graders throughout the state.

Students write stories to compete for the best in each grade level at their school. These winners progress to compete for best in the school system. The system winners are forwarded to the Georgia National Fair to compete against stories from all over Georgia. The top three winners from each grade level win a trip to the Fair to accept their awards and listen as the Grand Prize Winner is announced.

2024 lists of Finalists and System winners, and Finalist Stories are available at the bottom of this page.

The "Bear" Facts

You are invited to write a story about a very special American black bear who lived from about 1980 to 1993 in middle Georgia near the Georgia National Fairgrounds. The bear was seen off and on by people who lived in the area. None of the people who saw the bear could believe it was really a bear at first! Once, the black bear was seen in a neighborhood subdivision located in a wooded area across the interstate from the Fairgrounds. Another year the bear was seen on a nearby road south of the Fairgrounds, paws on the top wire of a fence, watching the cars go by. In June 1993, the last reported encounter was described by a Perry resident who was jogging through the Fairgrounds just before dark. “I heard tractor-trailer trucks putting on brakes on the interstate and I looked to see why they were slowing down. I saw a large black animal standing by the fence near the west gate entrance to the Fairgrounds. I stopped jogging to get a better look at the animal and realized it was a black bear. The bear was standing with its paws on the fence watching me. Then the bear climbed over the fence and again stood on its back feet to get a better look at me. I didn’t try to get a better look at the bear; I ran!” The bear’s path often crossed I-75 near the Fairgrounds, which is a very busy interstate. “Fair Bear” has become the Georgia National Fair mascot.
Fair Bear has been the subject of the Georgia National Fair writing competition for 4th, 5th and 6th graders since 1994.