Write Poems or Short Stories, Win Fame and Fortune!

Attention Undergraduate Student Writers: The Shenandoah University English Department invites submissions of original poetry and short stories for the annual S. Gordden Link Poetry and Bruce C. Souders Fiction Writing Contests. Contest prize are both $250. Winning manuscripts will be published in Avalon, the student literary and arts magazine. 

To Enter: Submit one typed copy of each entry to Jo Strader in the Arts & Sciences office, Henkel Hall 206, or via email at jstrader@su.edu. Each entry should identify the writer on only the cover sheet to ensure anonymity until judging is complete.

Submission Deadline: for both writing contests is Friday, March 21, 2014

The Rules: Poetry entries may consist of no more than five poems. Short stories may be no longer than 5,000 words. Submitted manuscripts must be unpublished in any other form. Students who submit manuscripts must be enrolled full-time (at least 12 credit hours) at Shenandoah during both semesters of the 2013-14 school year. The English faculty will judge all submissions and its decisions are final. The faculty reserves the right to make no award if no worthy manuscript is submitted. 

Questions? Contact either Dr. Joanne Jacobs in Gregory Hall 111 (or jjacob2@su.edu) or Dr. John Jacobs in Gregory Hall 208 (or jjacobs@su.edu)

Congratulations, 2012 Student Writing Contest Winners Emily Lynn, Devin Bowers, and Colleen Foster

The Shenandoah University Department of English is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 S. Gordden Link Poetry and the Bruce C. Souders Fiction Student Writing Contests.

To read the winning entries, click on their titles below.

Emily Lynn is awarded the Link $250 First Prize for Poetry for her body of work: "I Don't Expect Anything from You," "The Women have Hats," and "There are Many People Over There."

Devin M. Bowers wins a Link $100 Second Prize for Poetry for her body of work: "Literature's Offspring," "Misplaced Morality," "Grey Light," and "Despair."

Colleen Foster receives a Link Honorable Mention for Poetry and a book for her body of work: "To be Continued," "Mantra," and "Withheld."

A past winner, Foster is also doubly recognized for her creative writing this year. In addition to a poetry Honorable Mention, she is also awarded the Souders Fiction $250 Prize for Fiction for her short story "The Rule of Thirds."

The winners will be publicly recognized during the Shenandoah University Honor's Day Ceremony on Friday, May 11, from 1:00-3:00 in Stimpson Auditorium. The ceremony is open to the University community. Their work will also be published in the spring 2012 issue of Avalon, the Shenandoah University student literary and arts magazine. Hard copies of the winning entries are also available on the Writing Contest bulletin board next to Gregory 111.

Rules and next year's call for entries are in this blog's right column.

The Link/Souders Student Creative Writing Contests are sponsored by the Shenandoah University Department of English. The Link Second Prize for Poetry is sponsored by the Willa Cather Institute.

Congratulations, 2011 Contest Winners Asma Hamid, E. B. Javidan, and Colleen Foster

To read the winning works, click on their titles below.

Asma Hamid wins a Link Poetry $250 First Prize for a body of work of which "Searching," "A Meditation on Emily Dickinson's 'Bring Me the Sunset in a Cup'," and "Journey" are representative.

Colleen Foster wins a Link Poetry $100 Second Prize, sponsored by the Willa Cather Institute, for a body of work of which "Down It," "Taking Inventory," and "Replay" are representative.

E. B. Javidan wins the Souders Fiction $250 Prize for her short story "The Time of Carolina."

The winners will be publicly recognized during the Shenandoah University Honor's Day Ceremony on Friday, May 6, at 1:00 p.m., in the Stimpson auditorium. The ceremony is open to the University community.

The winning works will be published in the fall 2011 edition of Avalon, the SU student literary and arts magazine. Hard copies of the winning works are available on the Writing Contest bulletin board next to Gregory 111.

The Link and Souders Prizes are sponsored by the Shenandoah University Department of English.