The Rose Post Creative Nonfiction contest opens Nov. 15, with a submission deadline of Jan. 15

The competition, sponsored by the N.C. Writer’s Network, encourages the creation of lasting nonfiction that is outside the realm of conventional journalism and has relevance to North Carolinians.

Subjects may include traditional categories such as reviews, travel articles, profiles or interviews, place/history pieces, or culture criticism.

The first-, second-, and third-place winners will receive $1,000, $300, and $200 respectively. The winning entry will be considered for publication by Ecotone.

Rose Post worked for the Salisbury Post for 56 years as a reporter, feature writer, and columnist. She won numerous state and national awards and earned the N.C. Press Women’s top annual award four times.

She received the O. Henry Award from the Associated Press three times, the Pete Ivey Award, and the School Bell Award for educational coverage.

Nationally, she won the 1989 Ernie Pyle Award, the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for human-interest writing, and the 1994 National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ Award.

The competition is open to any writer who is a legal resident of North Carolina or a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

The entry fee is $10 for NCWN members, $12 for nonmembers.

Entries can be submitted online at http://ncwriters.submittable.com, and pay by VISA or MasterCard.

Each entry must be an original and previously unpublished manuscript of no more than 2,000 words, typed in a 12-point standard font and double-spaced.

Author’s name should not appear on manuscripts. Instead, include a separate cover sheet with name, address, phone number, e-mail address, word count, and manuscript title. (If submitting online, do not include a cover sheet with your document; Submittable will collect and record your name and contact information.)

Entries will not be returned.