By Donna Campbell Smith
The deadline for the Franklin County Arts Council’s Writers’ Guild fifth-annual Carolina Prize Writing Contest is August 15, 2019.
The contest is open to writers of any age and location for previously unpublished (this includes online publication) poetry, short stories, essays or creative non-fiction.
Prizes to be awarded are one for prose and one for poetry. Each prize will be $100 plus two copies of the journal and publication in the 2020 issue of County Lines: A Literary Journal. In addition, up to five honorable mentions may be named though there is no cash prize. Submission guidelines are below.
The Franklin County Arts Council is online at fcacarts.org, on Facebook here, and on Twitter (@FCACArts).
Carolina Prize Writing Contest Submission Guidelines
Contest entry Fees are $10 for each entry. You may enter as many times as you wish at $10/entry. Entries and payment must be postmarked by the deadline of August 15, 2019.
Entries must be in a Microsoft Word document, submitted via email.
Entries should be blind (no identifying info except the title) but accompanied by a separate cover sheet with the title of the piece, name and contact info.
Any entries with offensive language or derogatory comments toward any person or group will be rejected.
Poetry entries must be a maximum of 30 lines excluding the title (1-3 poems will count as one entry) and single-spaced.
Prose must be double-spaced, 12-point font, Maximum 1,500 words. One prose piece is one entry.
Submit your contest entry by email
Mail check for your entry fee to the Franklin County Arts Council with “Contest entry” in the memo. There will be no refunds. Mail entry fees (check) to PO Box 758, Louisburg, NC 27549.
Launch Party / Prize Awards
Prize winners and honorable mentions will be announced at the County Lines launch party planned for Saturday, December 14, 2019, 2-4pm, at the Louisburg campus of Vance-Granville Community College.
Past winners of the Carolina Prize
2015: The winner of first Carolina Prize was RJ McCarthy (Henderson, NC) with his short story “Do You Love Me?”
2016: RJ “Bob” McCarthy won for prose with his short story “Honor.” Linda Riggins (Raleigh, NC) won with her poem, “A Past Present.”
2017: Pat Tyson won for prose with “Farewell Mr. Blue.” Poetry winner was Joyce Compton Brown with, “Women Talking in Circles.”
2018: Sylvia Freeman (Durham, NC) was awarded the Carolina Prize for the poetry division. Judy Reed (Wake Forest, NC) won for the prose division. Winner of the (new) journal-cover art contest was Patricia Joynes (Boone, NC).
Note: If you want your submission for the Carolina Prize Writing Contest to also be considered for publication in County Lines: A Literary Journal, you must submit to the journal separately via email. There is no additional fee to submit to County Lines in addition to the contest fee paid.
