West Virginia Writers, Inc., the state’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to writing, is now accepting submissions for its 2014 writing contests. A total of $5,850 in total cash prizes are offered to the winners of the contests, which include both adult and student contests.
WV Writers has held this contest each year since 1982, accepting entries in a number of writing categories. There are categories for most forms of writing, but all submissions must be original unpublished material.
There are 13 writing categories for the adult contest, including: Children’s Books, Short Story, Short Nonfiction, Short Poetry, Long Poetry, Appalachian Writing and Book Length Prose as traditional categories. Two returning categories for 2014 are Stage Play and Humor, and Graphic Narrative is a brand new category accepting scripts for comic books and graphic novels.
Writers who have not previously won a cash prize in the contest may enter the Emerging Writers Prose and Emerging Writers Poetry categories. WV Writers is also offering the Pearl S. Buck Award for Writing for Social Change. In its 3rd year, this category seeks prose and poetry submissions on the theme of encouraging societal improvement. This category is sponsored by the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation in Hillsboro, inspired by Buck’s tradition of writing with the intent of bringing about social change.
There is a $10 fee for each adult contest entry, and a $12 fee for the book-length category.
In addition to the adult contest, WV Writers offers the New Mountain Voices Student Writing Contest, open to students from grade 1-12. Students may choose from six suggested topics or may make up their own. This student contest is free to enter and is only open to residents of West Virginia.
Submissions for both the adult and student contests are accepted from Jan. 2 through Mar. 15 (with a late deadline of Mar. 31). The contest is open to all residents of West Virginia as well as to any member of WV Writers, Inc. who reside outside of the state.
Winners of both annual contests will be announced June 14 in an awards ceremony during West Virginia Writers Annual Writers Conference, held at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley. All winners, including honorable mentions, will receive certificates suitable for framing.
For official contest entry forms, rules, and the Frequently Asked Questions List, please visit www.wvwriters.org/contest.html, or email contest coordinator at wvwcontest@gmail.com. WV Writers also has Contest Podcast to help explain all the contest details, which can be downloaded for free at podcast.wvwriters.org, or through iTunes.
Now celebrating its 37th anniversary, West Virginia Writers, Inc. remains the largest writers’ organization in the state.