The 2014 Doris Betts Fiction Prize is now open for submissions. The prize awards the first-place winner $250 and publication in the North Carolina Literary Review. Finalists will also be considered for publication in the NCLR.
For more than 20 years, East Carolina University and the North Carolina Literary & Historical Association have published the North Carolina Literary Review, a journal devoted to showcasing the state’s literary excellence. Described by one critic as “everything you ever wanted out of a literary publication but never dared to demand,” the NCLR has won numerous awards and citations.
The final judge is NCLR fiction editor Liza Wieland. She’s the author of seven books and three collections of short fiction. She has won two Pushcart Prizes, the Michigan Literary Fiction Prize and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, The North Carolina Arts Council and the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. She recently received a second fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council.
Claudette Cohen of Carolina Beach won the 2013 Doris Betts Fiction Prize for her story, “The Mayor of Biscoe.”
Betts wrote three short-story collections and six novels. She won three Sir Walter Raleigh awards, the Southern Book Award, the North Carolina Award for Literature, the John Dos Passos Prize and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Medal for the short story, among others. Beloved by her students, she was named the University of North Carolina Alumni Distinguished Professor of English in 1980.
Here are the complete guidelines:
• The competition is open to any writer who is a legal resident of North Carolina or a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. North Carolina Literary Review subscribers with North Carolina connections (lives or has lived in NC) are also eligible.
• The competition is for previously unpublished short stories up to 6,000 words. One entry per writer. No novel excerpts. Stories do NOT have to relate to NCLR’s annual special feature topic.
• Submit previously unpublished stories online at https://nclr.submittable.com/submit. Submittable will collect your entry fee via credit card ($10 NCWN members or NCLR subscribers; $20 for non-members/non-subscribers).
• To pay submission fees by check or money order, make payable to the North Carolina Writers Network and mail to: Ed Southern, PO Box 21591, Winston-Salem, NC 27120- 1591
• Documents must be Microsoft Word or .rtf files. The author’s name should not appear in the story file. Title the file with the story’s title to connect the story with your name. If you have any problems submitting electronically, email NCLR’s Submission Manager.
The winner and finalists will be announced in April. The winning story and select finalists will be published in the next year’s issue of the North Carolina Literary Review.
Questions may be directed to Margaret Bauer, editor of the North Carolina Literary Review, at BauerM@ecu.edu.
The nonprofit North Carolina Writers’ Network is the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to writers at all stages of development. For additional information, visit www.ncwriters.org.
The Writers’ Workshop of Asheville is sponsoring its 25th Annual Poetry Contest, open to any writer regardless of residence. Entries must be postmarked by Feb. 28.
Awards: First place — Your choice of a three-night stay at The Mountain Muse B&B in Asheville; three free online workshops; or 100 pages line-edited and revised by our editorial staff. Second place — two-night stay at the B&B; two free workshops; or 50 pages line-edited; third place — one free workshop or 25 pages line-edited. 10 honorable mentions.
Guidelines: All work must be unpublished. Your name, address, email and title of work should appear on a separate cover sheet. The entry fee is $25 for up to three entries. Multiple entries are accepted. Each poem should not exceed two pages. Enclose self-sealing self-addressed stamped envelope for critique and list of winners.
Make check or money order payable to The Writers’ Workshop, and mail to: Poetry Contest, 387 Beaucatcher Road, Asheville, NC 28805. The entry fee is also payable at www.twwoa.org.
Emailed submissions may be sent to writersw@gmail.com, with “Poetry Contest” in the subject.
Congratulations to the 2013 Fiction Contest winners — first place, “Borderlands” by Brooke Shaffner, Brooklyn, N.Y.; second place, “Blessings Unexpected” by Linda Sawyer, Goodlettsville, Tenn.; third place, “Judas Rising” by Bob Freeland, Pawleys Island, S.C. Honorable mention, Heather Adams, Raleigh; Caryn Sutorus, Matthews; Pam Van Dyk, Raleigh.