Writing Competitions - National League of American Pen Women

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Writing Contests

NLAPW All Cities Branch (New York)

2010 Poetry Competition

Deadline: Postmarked September 30, 2010

Entry Fee: $5 each or three for $10, payable to NLAPW All Cities Branch.

Prizes: lst, $75; 2nd, $25; 3rd, $15.

Please send one unpublished single-spaced poem per page, 30-line limit, include title on poem. Please send a separate cover sheet to list poem titles, name, address, email address, phone number. Please send stamped, self-addressed envelope for winner's list. No ID on poems.

Send To: All Cities Branch, c/o Denise Kolanovic, 190 N. LInden Street, Massapequa, NY 11758.

Memorial Letters Competition Winners

Carol Oschmann, Ruskin Branch FL, offers an engaging blend in Prison Dreams. Her narrative fulfills the time-tested descriptions of the purposes of art: to delight and to instruct. The reader learns about spiritual growth, psychology, and the prison system, by means of a page-turning description of Oschmann’s work as a prison dream-group leader.

Rosateresa Castro-Vargas subtitled Tomando Cafe “a one-woman experimental musical in seventeen gulps.” This experiment looks like a success. The script’s one woman is the particular as well as the universal, presented with creativity both in the monologues and in the mise-en-scene.

A special note to Katherine Thayer, whose poetry is even more impressive when you learn that she is just completing high school: Please keep writing!

Juror Dr. Valerie Lipscomb is an Instructor of English at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. She earned a Ph.D. from U.S.F. in December 2004 with concentrations in modern literature and teaching composition. She also holds a master’s degree in humanities and a bachelor’s in English. During her graduate work, she was named a national P.E.O. Scholar as well as U.S.F.’s outstanding doctoral candidate in English, and received a Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student. Dr. Lipscomb’s research concentrates on the performance of age in modern drama; her articles have appeared in such journals as Shaw: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies and the National Women’s Studies Association Journal. She regularly presents papers at conferences of organizations such as the Modern Language Association and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. She previously taught at the University of Kentucky and the University of Northern Iowa, and has been a professional writer and editor.

Haiku Contest

The Cape Cod Massachusetts Branch announces a Haiku contest in honor of poetry month – April 2010. Their goal is to sponsor a youth attending the August Cape Cod Writers Conference in Craigville, MA.

Postmark deadline: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
$3.00 per haiku, or $10 for maximum of four to “Cape Cod Branch, NLAPW
Prizes: 1st place, $15.; 2nd, $10.; 3rd $5.

Please type on one-half of an 8 1/2"x11" sheet
On the back of each sheet, write name, address, phone, and email address.
Send to: C. G. Laurie, PO Box 936, West Falmouth, MA 02574

Simplified Definition of Haiku

Haiku is an unrhymed Japanese lyric verse form usually having three lines totalling seventeen syllables, five in the first and third lines, and seven in the second line. A common practice in English haiku is a break, or caesura, in the third line, creating a "twist" or "ah-ha" moment that adds enlightenment or compares or contrasts two situations or events. The elusive flavor of the form, however, lies more in its touch and tone than in its syllabic structure. Deeply imbedded in Japanese culture and strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism, haiku are very brief descriptions of nature that convey some implicit insight or essence of a moment. Traditionally, they contain either a direct or oblique reference to a season.

Example:
Two water lilies
shining serenely golden
raindrop-dimpled pool.
Buson

NLAPW Santa Clara County Branch

Limerick Contest

First notice



Deadline: March 17, 2010. Entry fee: $4 per limerick; 3 for $10. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd monetary prizes determined by number of entries; honorable mention prize. Original, not previously published entries, each on one page, with no personal information. Separate page listing all submissions, your name, address, phone/fax and email address. Winners notified by mail or email after April 15, 2010. CONTESTANTS MUST BE MEMBERS OF NLAPW. A limerick is a verse (usually humorous) of 5 lines with a rhyme scheme of aabba. Lines 1, 2 & 5 must rhyme with each other and have 3 feet. Lines 3 & 4 have 2 feet, are indented, and must rhyme with each other (different rhyme from 1, 2 & 5). Send entries and check payable to NLAPW Santa Clara County Branch to Susan Zerweck, Contest Chair, 15724 Adams Ridge, Los Gatos, CA 95033. Info: 408-353-1769 or email ralph_susan@juno.com.



Writing Contest—Humboldt County, CA

There is a Writing Contest for women of Humboldt County, CA, aged 15 and over. The Writing Contest is a part of I.N.S.P.I.R.E. which is 15 days of creative individual challenges, competitions and performances culminating in an Awards Gala Celebration on May 1, 2010. For Humboldt County residents there are cash awards. For non-Humboldt residents there are opportunities for honorable mentions. For more information contact Penny Fregeau at (707)768-3767 or the facebook I.N.S.P.I.R.E. group page, or this email address: beinspired10@yahoo.com

Ghost Story Contest

From the Denver Branch, Colorado

Deadline: Entries accepted from July 1 to October 1, 2010. Entry fee: $20. Prizes: 1st place: $1000; 2nd place: $500; 3rd place: $250. Second annual “Scare The Dickens Out of Us” ghost story contest, a fundraiser for the Friends of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library, Lockhart, Texas, the oldest continuously in use library in Texas. Contest privately funded; all entry fees go to the Friends for library projects. Submit a new, original ghost story up to 5000 words, any genre. Full rules available at www.clarklibraryfriends.com. Denver branch also supporting “Junior Scare the Dickens Out of Us” ghost story contest for ages 12-18: Entry fee: $5; 1st prize: $250.



Small Wonders – Natural & Rural Gems •
A Fine Art & Literary Exhibition

Holly Branch & Delaware Agricultural Museum DE

•Eligibility: Women artists, age 18 or older, within the Mid-Atlantic region.

• Exhibit dates: May 22- June 30, 2010.

Reception – May 22, Noon to 3pm

• Entry fee: $25 for up to 4 entries.

• Deadline: Entries must be delivered to Delaware Agricultural Museum, Dover, DE on May 18-19, 2010, 10 am-2 pm. Will accept insured mailed entries with prepaid return postage – call for details

• Sales & Prizes: Delaware Agricultural Museum/Holly Branch will retain 30% of all sales -- all art must be priced for sale, not exceeding $400. Following ribbons/awards will be presented: Best of Show; 1st place and 2nd place ribbons in all categories; honorable mentions at discretion of judge.

• Categories: Two-dimensional, framed or flat, original fine art, any medium, no larger than 9” x 12” or 108 sq in, excluding frame; Three-dimensional original fine artisan pieces,hand-created by the artist, must not exceed 12" in any one direction;

Literary art: poetry, prose, verse, short story, excerpt from poetry, novel, play, essay, short story, journal, chapbook (published or unpublished), 1 page printed in size 14 font, submitted as one-page framed entry. Paper size must not exceed a total of 108 sq in, excluding frame. • All entries marked on back with artist’s name; medium of 2D & 3D art; title or name of work; price; category (2D, 3D or Literary). Entries juried by 2 art professionals; artists notified of unselected art by May 20. • All unsold art must remain on exhibit until June 30. All unsold art to be picked up on July 1-2, 10 am – 2 pm.

• All entries shall express the following regarding the Delmarva Peninsula (past or present):

The natural environment, agricultural heritage and/or contemporary agriculture.

Questions or to submit entries by mail, contact: Holly Branch, NLAPW: 302-241-5919 Maria or 302-736-1939 Donna. Email- nlapw.hollybranch@gmail.com or www.hollybranchapw.org