2011 Prose & Poetry Contest

Guidelines

Genres: Poetry, Fiction and Creative Nonfiction

Prizes: $250 awarded as top prize in each genre

Word Limits: 5,000 words for Prose (Fiction and Creative Nonfiction); up to 3 poems (5 pages) for Poetry.

Submissions exceeding these limits will be automatically disqualified.

Limit one submission per person per genre.

Entry Fee: None

Deadline: December 30, 2011 Winners announced by April 1, 2012

To Submit:

Holding Each Elephant’s Tail:

Voices from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

The Missouri Writers’ Guild and Missouri Humanities Council have partnered in the Missouri Warrior Writers Project to produce an anthology of writing by veterans and active military service personnel of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars about their wartime experience.

We have an OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS.

The first volume will be published by Southeast Missouri State University, with an expected release date of Armed Forces Day, May 19, 2012. All branches of the military who have had multiple deployments, who have been deployed once, or who have never been deployed, are invited to participate. Family members of these warriors are also encouraged to submit.

- Manuscripts must be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word document.

(Save with a *.doc extension). Please combine all poems into one document and use first poem as title.

- Put your name and contact information on the first page of your submission document and nowhere else within the manuscript.

- Please include a brief (75 words or less) bio with your submission.

- Send to: submissions@mowarriorwriters.com

Work previously published will be considered, but new work is preferred. All entries will be considered for publication in the anthology.

Judges

Poetry

Brian Turner (author of Here, Bullet and Phantom Noise) served as an infantry sergeant in Iraq (2nd ID) and in Bosnia (3rd Mountain Division). He received a USA Hillcrest Fellowship in Literature, an NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry, the Amy Lowell Traveling Fellowship, the Poets’ Prize, and a Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. His work has appeared on National Public Radio, the BBC, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and Weekend America, among others.

Nonfiction

Mark Bowden is a best-selling author and journalist. His book, Black Hawk Down, a finalist for the National Book Award, was the basis of the film of the same name. His book Killing Pablo won the Overseas Press Club’s 2001 Cornelius Ryan Award as the book of the year. His most recent books are Guests of the Ayatollah and The Best Game Ever. His newest book, Worm: The First Digital World War will be published in October 2011.

Fiction

William Trent Pancoast’s novels include WILDCAT (2010) and CRASHING (1983). His short stories, essays, and editorials have appeared in Night Train, The Mountain Call, Solidarity magazine, Apple, US News & World Report, the Union Forum, and numerous other labor publications. Labeled a “blue collar writer” by the Wall Street Journal in 1986, Pancoast recently retired from the auto industry after thirty years as a die maker. In recent years, he has been an adjunct professor of English and first mate on a Lake Erie charter fishing boat.