The natural corollary to reading — the primary activity celebrated by the Novello Festival — is writing. So it’s a good time to highlight opportunities for area writers to consider once the readings and other festivities conclude and it’s time to return to individual desks, notebooks, and computer screens.Some advice:
1. Always check with the sponsoring organization for updated guidelines, deadlines, and entry fees.
2. Follow the guidelines.
3. Keep copies of your submission(s).
And good luck!
Charlotte Writers Club
PO Box 220954
Charlotte 28222-0954
http://www.charlottewritersclub.org/ default.htm
Administers several annual contests in fiction, poetry, nonfiction and children’s story. Check website for detailed guidelines, deadlines, and entry fees, and/or contact Cherie Cox, Vice President for Contests, at Contests@charlottewritersclub.org.
Porter Fleming Writing Competition
Greater Augusta Arts Council
PO Box 1776
Augusta, GA 30903
http://www.augustaarts.com/Porter Fleming.htm
Recognizes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction written by residents of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Winners are invited to participate in the Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival and receive cash prizes. Entry fee: $10.
Longleaf Press Chapbook Contest
c/o English Department
Methodist College
5400 Ramsey Street
Fayetteville, NC 28311-1420
http://www.methodist.edu/longleaf/index.htm
Open to residents of North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia who have not published a full-length poetry collection. Winner receives $100, 50 copies of the chapbook, and an invitation to read at the Southern Writers Symposium at Methodist College. Entry fee: $10. Deadline: January 28, 2004.
New Adventures Playwriting Project
OdysseyStage
c/o Sheryle Criswell
107 Shady Springs Place
Durham, NC 27713
http://www.odysseystagetheatre.org
Open to NC playwrights. Two scripts are selected for staged readings; one is chosen for full production. Author of the produced play receives $300 honorarium in lieu of royalties. (Biennial program — next project open to entries May 1, 2005.)
North Carolina Literary and Historical Association
4610 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4610
Phone: 919-733-9375
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/affiliates/lit-hist/awards/awards.htm
Administers several competitions for NC authors (The Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry/The Roanoke-Chowan Group of Writers and Allied Artists; the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction/The Historical Book Club of North Carolina, etc.).
North Carolina New Play Project
c/o Greeensboro Playwrights’ Forum
200 N. Davie Street, Box 2
Greensboro, NC 27401
http://www.ci.greensboro.nc.us/culture/cityarts/ guidelin.htm
2004 Project (for which submissions were accepted postmarked June 1-October 8, 2003) will produce selected script(s) and offer the playwright(s) a cash award of $500. Plays or musicals considered by NC residents/students only.
North Carolina Writers’ Network
PO Box 954
Carrboro, NC 27510
http://www.ncwriters.org/litcomps.htm
Administers several literary competitions, including the Randall Jarrell/Harperprints Poetry Chapbook Competition, the Blumenthal Writers & Readers Series, the Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition, and the Doris Betts Fiction Competition. Full details on website.
Ruark Foundation Short Fiction Contest
Robert Ruark Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 10279
Southport, NC 28461
Awards prizes of $300, $150, and $100 to authors of short stories (maximum 3000 words). Writers must be 18 or older and reside in NC, SC or VA. Entry fee: $7.
Southern Women Writers Conference
Emerging Writers Contest
c/o Susan Burr
PO Box 490350
Mount Berry, GA 30149-0350
http://www.berry.edu/academics/humanities/ english/swwc2003/
Three awards of $500 (one each for fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction) to women writers who have not yet published a full-length volume and meet at least one of these criteria: reside in the South, were born in the South, write about the South. Entry fee: $15.
Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities
Writers in Residence Program
555 East Connecticut Avenue
PO Box 939
Southern Pines, NC 28388
Phone: 910-692-6261
Offers up to two weeks’ housing for published writers (“North Carolina natives or current residents or…those with significant ties to the state”). Contact Administrator, Rosemary Holland, by e-mail (weymouthcenter@pinehurst.net), phone or mail for information.
Erika Dreifus (MFA, Queens University of Charlotte) is a writer in Massachusetts, where she also teaches in the Harvard Extension School Writing Program.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2003.
