By Donna Campbell Smith
The Franklin County Arts Council’s Writers’ Guild is sponsoring its fifth annual Carolina Prize Writing Contest. It is open to writers of any age and location for previously unpublished (this includes online publication) poetry, short stories, essays or creative non-fiction.
This year, two prizes will be awarded, one for prose and the other poetry. Each prize will be $100 plus two copies of the journal and publication in the 2020 issue of County Lines: A Literary Journal.
Up to five honorable mentions may also be named. Honorable mentions will receive publication in County Lines and one free copy.
Judging the poetry division is award-winning author Marly Youmans, who is a native of the Carolinas, currently living in Cooperstown, New York. Forthcoming from Phoenicia Publishing in mid-2019, The Book of the Red King is her fifth book of poetry. Her prior poetry books are The Foliate Head (UK: Stanza Press), Thaliad (Montreal: Phoenicia Publishing), The Throne of Psyche (Mercer University Press), and Claire (LSU.) She has also published nine novels; next year will see publication of a tenth, Charis in the World of Wonders.
The prose judge is E. M. Jerkins. She describes herself as a wife, and mother of three from Charlotte, NC. She received her B.A. in mass communications from North Carolina Central University and has written and published three novels: Reach, If Ever a Time, and Where the Ground Cries Out. Ersula also owns Write-Hand Publishing, LLC, a company designed to aid in the production of all things literary.
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.
All submissions 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. The entries must be done in a Word document.
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. Write checks 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.
Winners 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.
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 CountyLinesLiteraryJournal@gmail.com. There is no additional fee to submit to County Lines in addition to the contest fee paid.
