Post-MFA Fellowship: Fiction

The University of Louisville is offering the Axton Fellowship in Fiction

Writers who have received their terminal degree within the last five years in Creative Writing are invited to apply for an Axton Fellowship in Creative Writing. The purpose of these fellowships is to provide recent graduates with time to further their own work, to associate them with a distinguished faculty, and to allow them to contribute to a vibrant creative writing community.

This year one fellow in fiction will be appointed for the academic years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, and will be awarded a stipend and benefits. The fellow will give a reading in the Axton reading series during her or his tenure, will run a two-day literary seminar, and will teach one course each semester. Of these courses, one will be of the fellow’s design, another will be on the teaching of creative writing, and the other two will be creative writing or literature courses. The fellow will be expected to be in residence in Louisville during their fellowship period.

The fellowship will provide a stipend of $25,000 a year plus benefits for two years.

Candidates for the fellowship should submit the following documents:
a) a current CV
b) a one-page proposal for an undergraduate course
c) a writing sample-no more than 25 pages and
d) at least three letters of recommendation.

Applications must be postmarked by November 1, 2009.

Mail applications to:
Axton Fellowships
Jeff Skinner, Acting Director of Creative Writing
Department of English, Bingham Humanities 315
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292.

Essay Competition: Middle and High School Students

ESSAY COMPETITION for Middle and High School Students
$100,000 in SCHOLARSHIPS and PRIZES

2009-2010 ENTRY GUIDELINES

INTRODUCTION
After disease, humanity’s deadliest scourge has always been hate…hate has killed hundreds of millions. It knows no season and no limit. It is irrational and it is deadly. It is in us all. And it will live forever—unless we choose to stop it.

The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage (MMJH) challenges students in grades 6-12 to take personal responsibility to combat hatred, discrimination and intolerance by participating in the 2009-10 Stop the Hate: Youth Speak Out! essay contest.

About the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
The Museum, located in Beachwood, Ohio strives to open lines of communication between people of all races and religious backgrounds by focusing on the commonalities, rather than differences, of all who make up the American story. It is a museum of tolerance, diversity and collaboration and has taken great care to reflect upon the results of intolerance, not just against Jews, but against the weak, powerless, segregated and different in America and throughout the world.

About the Essay Contest
Established in 2008-09, the Stop the Hate! Youth Speak Out! essay contest is a yearly initiative of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage that supports the Museum’s mission to build bridges of appreciation, tolerance and understanding of persons of all religions, races, cultures and ethnic backgrounds. It reflects Jewish values of responsible citizenship and respect for all humanity by challenging young people to consider the consequences of intolerance and hatred and the role of personal responsibility in affecting change. By rewarding outstanding essays with college scholarships and other prizes, the contest encourages civic responsibility as an integral part of American life.

The Stop the Hate! Youth Speak Out Essay Contest:

promotes discussion among middle and high school students about various forms of hatred, intolerance and discrimination and how young people can take a stand for change

strengthens students problem-solving and writing skills while emphasizing empathy for others
provides students with valuable practice in preparing for the written portion of SAT/ACT exams and college application essays

encourages participatory learning, special projects, reading assignments, community service projects, and cultural competency

addresses National Content Standards

CONTEST THEME: STOP THE HATE! YOUTH SPEAK OUT!
What would you do to fight discrimination? How will you combat hatred and intolerance to become an agent of change? How will you become part of the solution?

Essays must address three components:
1. Describe an act of discrimination—have you or someone you know been subjected to discrimination? Or have you seen or heard of acts of hatred and intolerance that disturbed you?

2. Reflect upon your response—why were you disturbed and what did you feel and/or do about what you experienced, saw or heard?

3. Commit to a plan of action—Stop the Hate! Youth Speak Out! What have you done already and/or what will you commit to doing in the future to stop hatred and intolerance and affect change in you, your school and/or community? How will you implement your plan of action?

Discrimination is defined as any act of prejudice or intolerance perpetrated upon one individual by another; a group against an individual; or one group against another group. For example, essays may respond to acts of discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical/mental challenges, economic status and/or less specific criteria such as bullying, name-calling, malicious gossiping, or ostracizing someone for unspecified reasons.

ELIGIBILITY:

The contest is open to all students in grades 6-12 in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties in Ohio.
Students may attend a public, private, religious, charter school or home-school
One entry per student; no group projects
Students who have entered in previous years, including past student winners, may enter again, but cannot re-submit any essay previously submitted
Immediate family members of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, The Malrite Company and The Maltz Family Foundation staff and Board of Directors are ineligible to enter

ESSAY REQUIREMENTS:

Entries must be accompanied by the Official Entry Form—available on-line

Essays must address all three parts of the contest theme—describe, reflect, and commit

Entries are limited to 500 words; every word of the essay is counted with the exception of any bibliography and/or footnotes; please DO NOT title your essay
Essays must be original student work and free of plagiarism; quotations or copyrighted material used in the essay must be identified properly using MLA or similar standards
Failure to identify non-original material or plagiarism of any kind will result in disqualification
Entries must be typed, double-spaced, 12-point type, with one inch margins; no hand-written entries will be accepted
Do not use script, italicized, bold-faced type, decorative fonts or include graphics or photographs
DO NOT use student name, teacher name or school name anywhere on the essay
DO NOT use the real name of any actual person known to you; use a pseudonym in the first usage, such as “John, not his real name”

Entries that are incomplete, submitted after the deadline or do not comply with contest guidelines will not be accepted.

The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected or delayed entries, whether caused by mail/other delivery systems or human error which may occur in the processing of entries to this contest; or any problems/technical malfunctions of any computer equipment or software by either the applicant or the Maltz Museum. All entries become the property of the Maltz Museum, including the right to reproduce the essay or portions thereof in any promotional, reference, research, or official business materials without limitation; entries will not be returned. The Maltz Museum reserves the right to cancel, modify or delay the Contest

$100,000 in SCHOLARSHIPS and PRIZES:
All 11th and 12th grade entries are eligible for SCHOLARSHIP PRIZES (for qualified educational expenses—tuition, books, fees, room, board) at an Ohio college or university

Grand Scholarship Prize

$50,000 scholarship (up to $12,500 per year, renewable up to four years)

First Runner-Up

$25,000 scholarship (up to $6,250 per year renewable up to four years)

Second Runner-Up

$15,000 scholarship (up to $3,750 per year renewable up to four years)

7 Honorable Mentions

$1,000 cash prize

High School Division—cash prizes

9th grade winners: $300 First Prize/$200 Second Prize/$100 Third Prize
10th grade winners: $300 First Prize/$200 Second Prize/$100 Third Prize
A one-year Family Membership to the Maltz Museum for each winner
Book and video prize for each winner’s school library (one gift per school)
A free field trip to the Maltz Museum for each winner’s class

Middle School Division—cash prizes

6th grade winners: $300 First Prize/$200 Second Prize/$100 Third Prize
7th grade winners: $300 First Prize/$200 Second Prize/$100 Third Prize
8th grade winners: $300 First Prize/$200 Second Prize/$100 Third Prize
A one-year Family Membership to the Maltz Museum for each winner
Book and video prize for each winner’s school library (one gift per school)
A free field trip to the Maltz Museum for each winner’s class

DIRECTIONS FOR ENTERING:
Online entry is preferred. If students have limited access to the Internet, entries may be hand-delivered or mailed. Entries must be received electronically, by mail or hand-delivered by 12 Noon on the following dates. Late entries will not be accepted:

Entry Deadlines:

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 for students in grades 6-10
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 for students in grades 11-12

To enter online:

Go to here and follow the directions to prepare your official entry form and upload your entry

To enter by mail or hand delivery:

Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage—STH
2929 Richmond Road
Beachwood, Ohio 44122

SCORING AND DETERMINING WINNERS
How Entries Are Scored:

Entries are scored on the three required components of the essay, integration of the theme of personal responsibility, originality/creativity, student commitment to a plan of action, the potential for the plan to be implemented, and writing style/presentation. Each entry is assigned a number; readers and judges blind-score by number only; no names or school names are identified. Three readers score each essay using a numerical points scale

How Grades 6-10 Winners are determined:

Winners are determined for grades 6-10 by the highest number of points

How Scholarship Finalists are determined and Winners selected:*

Scholarship semi-finalists are determined by the highest number of points. Semi-finalist essays are read by a team of judges—each judge reads/scores all semi-finalist essays. Essays are scored using a numerical points scale. Judges’ aggregate scores narrow the field to no more than ten finalists.

Finalists must be present at the Awards Ceremony where they will read their essay and be scored on the quality of their oral presentation. The Grand Prize Winner, First and Second Runner-Up are determined by a combination of essay and oral presentation scores, with the essay score having the most weight in determining the outcome

THE AWARDS CEREMONY

Scholarship finalists, 6-10 grade winners, and their families will be invited to a special Awards Ceremony in March 2010 where specific prizes will be announced and students honored for their achievement.

11-12 grade scholarship finalists must be present at the Awards Ceremony to win.
Communicating your ideas to others is an important part of being an agent of change; finalists for scholarship prizes will read their essay and be scored on the quality of their oral presentation.

*SCHOLARSHIP REQUIREMENTS
· Scholarship finalists are required to submit additional information including GPA, ACT/SAT scores and letters of recommendation
· Financial need is not a consideration
· Scholarship winners are required to enroll as full-time students in a course of study leading to a degree in an accredited Pell-eligible, Ohio four-year college or university
· Scholarship winners must complete sufficient course hours each grading period to maintain status as a full-time student as defined by the institution and will be required to submit grades and verification of enrollment on a regular basis
· Scholarship prize is not transferable—if scholarship winner forfeits the prize before beginning school (selects an out of state school, accepts another full scholarship, unable to attend college)—prize is held in trust for future winners
· If scholarship winner transfers to an out of state school, drops out or is dismissed from school, remaining funds are held in trust for future winners

DISCLAIMER:
The administration of the Contest, including, without limitation, determining the eligibility of a student or essay, selecting of a reader or judge, evaluating any submitted essay, and awarding of the prizes, is within the sole and absolute discretion of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage. No student or teacher, or person or organization related thereto, has a right to appeal, contest, dispute, or otherwise challenge any aspect of the administration of the Contest, and any decision of the Maltz Museum is final in all respects.

NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY:
In administering the Contest, the Maltz Museum will not discriminate in any manner, including on the basis of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, and each eligible essay submitted will be evaluated upon the merit of its contents as described in this document.

Call for Submissions: Big Lucks

Big Lucks is a fledging not-for-profit literary journal that plans to publish its first printed issue in January 2010. We seek unique voices in prose and poetry, and wish to highlight the finest visual art we can get our greasy little hands on.

FICTION: If your story fulfills the guidelines and expectations of a particular genre (horror, sci-fi, fantasy), then it probably (but not certainly) doesn't have a place in Big Lucks. We seek new and unique prose that moves its audience. We do accept multiple pieces; however, we ask than you submit no more than 3,500 words of prose at a time.

POETRY: You may submit up to five poems at a time. Strong voices and work that makes us think, feel, or wonder something different will be looked at fondly. An eighty-line limit is asked of all poetry submissions. Send all pieces in separate attachments in ONE single e-mail, stating the titles of the attached works in the body of your email, along with the information asked above for everyone.

VISUAL ART: Big Lucks seeks various visual art for publication within our magazine and for cover art. We currently accept color submissions; however, to keep costs down, we're forced to print all images in black and white. Some formats we're particularly fond of are:

photography (both film and digital)
mixed media & collage
prints
vector drawings
scans of paintings and sketches
Please send all submissions as JPEGs.

E-mail all submissions to:
editors(at)biglucks.com (replace (at) with @).

Please use "SUBMISSION" and the type of work you are submitting(fiction/poetry/art) as the subject line. Please use standard manuscript formatting, and be sure to include your name, e-mail address, and a short biography in the body of your email. As writers ourselves, we not only welcome simultaneous submissions but encourage it.

Call for Submissions: Shakespeare's Monkey Revue

Shakespeare's Monkey Revue
Submissions of all genres (under 3000 words) will be considered; however our primary focus is creative writing, with an emphasis on poetry and short prose. We are now accepting original poetry submissions for our next issue “Work.”

The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2009.
Submissions should not exceed 3000 words. All submissions should be submitted by email:

Submission(at)shakespearesmonkeys.com (replace (at) with @)

Please allow up to eight weeks for notification of acceptance.

Payment is $10 and 2 copies of issue in which the work appears as well as a 1-year subscription to the Revue.

For more information please see the submission guidelines.

Shakespeare's Monkey Revue is an international literary journal dedicated to excellence.

Poetry Contest: Alimentum

Alimentum announces its first Poetry Contest

Submissions open September 1st 2009

Deadline December 1st 2009

First prize $500 and publication for a single poem. Two second prizes of publication. Final judge internationally renowned poet Dorianne Laux.

RULES: Submit up to 3 unpublished poems related to the subject of food or drink. No simultaneous submissions. NoSASE. Winners will be contacted and announced on our website March 1st, 2010. $15 entry fee includes a one-year subscription.

Snail mail only:

Alimentum Poetry Contest
P.O. Box 210028
Nashville, TN 37221.

Note: Our regular poetry-reading period is closed this fall. All contest submissions will be considered for publication

Call for novel submissions: Switchgrass Books

SWITCHGRASS Books, the fiction imprint of Northern Illinois University Press, seeks submissions of full-length literary novels set in or about the Midwest by authors with Midwestern ties. Mail manuscripts to:

Northern Illinois University Press
Switchgrass Books
2280 Bethany Rd.
DeKalb, IL 60115.

Read submission guidelines here

Fiction Writing Contest: Tennessee Williams Festival

Fiction Writing Contest: win $1500, publication, a reading at the Festival, airfare and hotel and more!

Judge: Jill McCorkle

Grand Prize:
$1,500
VIP All Access Pass ($500 value) for the 24th annual Festival: March 24-28, 2010
Publication in the New Orleans Review
Domestic Airfare and Accommodations to attend the 2010 Festival in New Orleans Public Reading at the 2010 Festival

The top ten finalists' names will be published on www.tennesseewilliams.net

Eligibility and Guidelines:

Short stories, written in English, up to 7,000 words. Only open to writers who have not yet published a book of fiction. Only previously unpublished stories accepted. Unlimited entries per person. Simultaneous submissions accepted; please notify the Festival if your story is accepted elsewhere. Stories that won this contest in previous years are ineligible; their authors remain eligible but must submit new work. Stories submitted to this contest in previous years that did not place are eligible. Author's name should not appear on manuscript. Include a separate page with story title and name, address, phone, and email of author.

Deadline: November 16, 2009 (postmark). Winner will be announced by March 1, 2010.

Entry Fee: $25

Manuscripts will not be returned.

To enter by mail:

Send your manuscript and check or money order for $25 (made out Tennessee Williams Literary Festival ) to:

Fiction Contest
Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival
938 Lafayette Street, Suite 514
New Orleans, LA 70113

To enter online

Mike's Writing Newsletter

The October issue of Mike's Writing Newsletter is now out. My column this month is on "Recognizing the Scams." Every issue of the newsletter is filled with interviews, articles, market information, and more. Subscriptions are FREE.

To receive your FREE subscription, please email your request to:

mgeffy (at) gmail (dot) com
Replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .

Mike's Writing Newsletter is one the best resources out there for writers!

Call for Submissions: The Broad River Review

The Broad River Review, the literary magazine of Gardner-Webb University, welcomes submissions of original and unpublished fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction for its next annual issue to appear in May 2010. The submission deadline is November 15, 2009.

Our publication is about 120 pages, perfect bound, with a full-color cover and an eight-page color art insert. At this time, we do not publish online.

Interested writers may submit up to 5 poems (up to 10 pages), one short story (up to 4,000 words), or one nonfiction piece (up to 4,000 words). Writers may submit in multiple genres, but please do not submit multiple times in any particular genre. Simultaneous submission are acceptable, as long as we are notified immediately should the submitted work be placed elsewhere.

Writers may submit by regular mail or by email, although we prefer email. In a cover letter, please include a brief biographical entry, as well as titles and genres of all submitted works. If submitting by email, please attach Microsoft Word or Rich Text files only.

Our mailing address:

The Broad River Review
P.O. Box 7224
Gardner-Webb University
Boiling Springs, NC 28017.

Our email address is broadriverreview(at)gardner-webb.edu (replace (at) with @)

For additional information or to ask questions, please email us or call (704) 406-3222.

Call for Submissions: Hot Metal Bridge

The University of Pittsburgh's creative writing journal, Hot Metal Bridge, is seeking submissions in all genres, but particularly poetry!

See our submission guidelines here.

Submit by Nov. 11 to be considered for our Fall issue!

Call for Food Writing: Connotation Press

Call for food writing: Connotation Press

The online arts and literary magazine Connotation Press is seeking food writing from the creative writer's perspective. If you're a creative writer in any genre who is also interested in food writing or who is currently involved in food writing, please submit your tasty morsels to:
Amanda McGuire
the Food and Wine feature editor at Connotation Press
amandamcguire(at)connotationpress.com (replace (at) with @). Bon Appetit!

Call for Submissons: American Diversity Report

The American Diversity Report, an online magazine reaching 1,000 unique viewers daily, is accepting articles, short stories and poetry for November and December issues.

The topic is seasonal holidays, religious or secular.

Accepted works will be listed in our free monthly e-newsletter to which you can subscribe.

Please use our automated form to submit your material.

Poetry Prize: Anderbo

Anderbo Poetry Prize

For up to six unpublished poems

Winner receives:

$500 cash
Publication on anderbo.com

Judged by William Logan

2009 Contest Assistant: Anderbo Poetry Editor Charity Burns

Guidelines:
–Poems should be typed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper with the poet’s name and contact information on the upper right corner of each poem
–Entries must be postmarked by November 1, 2009
–Limit six poems per poet
–Entrant must not have been previously published on anderbo.com
–Entrant must not be a current or former student of William Logan

–Mail submissions to:
Anderbo Poetry Prize,
270 Lafayette Street,
Suite 1412,
New York, NY 10012

–Enclose self-addressed stamped business envelope to receive names of winner and honorable mentions
–All entries are non-returnable and will be recycled
–Total reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
–Winner and honorable mentions will be published on anderbo.com in February of 2010

Call for Submissions: Cerise Press

CERISE PRESS, an international online journal based in the United States and France, builds cross-cultural bridges by featuring artists and writers in English and translations, with an emphasis on French and Francophone works.

CERISE PRESS hopes to serve as a gathering force where imagination, insight, and conversation express the evolving and shifting forms of human experience. Published three times per year, each issue includes poetry, translations, prose, interviews, reviews, art, and photography.

Authors have included Tess Gallagher, Eleanor Wilner, Laura Kasischke, Ray Gonzalez, James Harms, Robert Kelly, Patricia Fargnoli, Karen An-Hwei Lee, Pura López-Colomé (translated by Forrest Gander), Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelshtam, Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva (translated by Tony Brinkley with Raina Kostova), Hai Zi (translated by Ye Chun), and Abdelwahab Meddeb (translated by Charlotte Mandell), among others.

Please visit our website for guidelines

Open Reading Period: Tarpaulin Sky Press

During the month of October, Tarpaulin Sky Press will be reading full-length manuscripts of poetry, fiction, and cross-genre work. Manuscripts should be postmarked between October 1 and October 31, 2009. There is no need to query first; simply mail the manuscript according to the directions below.

Tarpaulin Sky Press publishes paperbacks as well as a literary journal that appears in online and paper editions. Our trade paperbacks are available though major retailers and independent booksellers alike, and are distributed by Small Press Distribution--where the majority of our full-length titles have appeared on the distributor's "Best Sellers" lists, sometimes for several months. In addition to being included in "Ten Great Titles from Underground Presses" in Time Out New York, Tarpaulin Sky Press and its titles are featured and reviewed in places such as Poets & Writers, American Book Review, Rain Taxi, Bloomsbury Review, and Bookslut, among others.

TO SUBMIT:

Send one copy of your manuscript along with two copies of the title page (note: the reading process is not "blind"--we ask for two title pages only so that we may keep one with the manuscript, and the other for reference/notes, etc). Be sure that your title pages include your name, address, telephone number, and email address.

Cover letters are read with interest. We like to know who your are, what you're up to, and where we can read more of your work.

We do accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Individual pieces from the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, anthologies, and short-run chapbooks, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished. Manuscripts will not be returned. Please do not send us your only copy.

Writers who have not been published in our literary journal should include a $20 reading fee in the form of a check or a money order made payable to Tarpaulin Sky Press.

Past contributors to Tarpaulin Sky may submit their manuscript with a $10 reading fee. Current subscribers to Tarpaulin Sky Press do not need to include a reading fee (you've already done plenty to support the press--thank you).

Everyone submitting a manuscript is welcome also to choose from any TSky Press trade paperback (sorry, no chapbooks)--just let us know which title you would like, and enclose with your submission packet a 9x12, self-addressed, stamped envelope with $2.64 in postage. We will ship the books separately from your notification SASE.

Mail your submission to

Tarpaulin Sky Press
PO Box 189
Grafton, VT 05146

For notification of decisions, include a business-size SASE. If you would like to receive acknowledgment of the receipt of your manuscript, please include a stamped, self-addressed postcard. Notification of decisions will be made in February 2010. Publication of accepted manuscripts will be in 2010 & 2011.

If you are not familiar with our press and the type of books that we publish, we encourage you to explore our work before submitting, by purchasing one of our titles.