The Mountain Heritage Literary
Festival
June 14-16, 2013
Contest Guidelines
The Mountain Heritage Literary Festival at Lincoln Memorial University announces its eighth annual writing competition. Prize amounts of $150 for first place, $75 for second place and $50 for third place are awarded in each category. Honorable mentions are awarded at the discretion of the judges.
$150 for first place
$75
for second place
$50
for third place
| The Jesse Stuart Prize for Young Adult Fiction Entries for this prize are limited to no more than 2,000 words and may not be entered simultaneously in the Still contest. George Ella Lyon will judge. Lyon has published award-winning books for readers of all ages, and her poem, “Where I’m From,” has been used as a model by teachers around the world. Recent titles include She Let Herself Go and the picture books “Which Side Are You On?” The Story of a Song, All the Water in the World, The Pirate of Kindergarten and You and Me and Home Sweet Home. Originally from Harlan, Kentucky, Lyon works as a freelance writer and teacher based in Lexington, where she lives with her husband, writer and musician Steve Lyon. They have two grown sons. |
| The James Still Prize for Short Story Entries for this prize should be no more than 4,000 words and there is no restriction on subject matter. Wayne Caldwell will judge. Caldwell is the author of two novels – Cataloochee and Requiem by Fire. Caldwell was born in Asheville, North Carolina. He grew up in the Sand Hill section of the Enka community, where he remembers the Goat Man, the Beacon Restaurant, and Elson’s Drug Store. As a boy, he set up duck pins at the American Enka bowling alley, fished in Enka Lake, and took his first paying job at the Enka Lake Club, making ninety cents an hour. He first became passionate about literature in Miss Laura Douglass Harrell’s English classes at Enka High School. She introduced him to Thomas Wolfe, among others, and joked with him about writing the Great American Novel. He has three degrees in English, from UNC-Chapel Hill, Appalachian State, and Duke, and he has taught composition and literature at North Carolina Central and Union College (Schenectady NY). Recently, his short story, “Donation Jar” appeared in Lincoln Memorial University’s drafthorse literary journal. |
| The George Scarbrough Prize for Poetry There are no restrictions on subject matter for this prize. One entry is considered a single poem or a set of up to three poems. Maurice Manning will judge. Manning was born and raised in Kentucky. He often writes about the land and culture of Appalachia, and in so doing, he’s represented the Appalachian region to a new generation of readers. His first book of poems, Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions, was chosen by poet and judge W.S. Merwin for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. His subsequent books include A Companion for Owls: Being the Commonplace Book of D. Boone, Lone Hunter, Back Woodsman, &c., and Bucolics. His fourth book of poetry, The Common Man, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011. A new collection called The Gone and The Going Away is forthcoming. Manning teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. |
| The Emma Bell Miles Prize for Essay This prize is restricted to essays that address Appalachian life, literature, religion, folklore, culture and/or values. Entries for this prize should be no more than 4,000 words. Karen Salyer McElmurray will judge. Karen’s memoir Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother’s Journey, was an AWP Award Winner for Creative Nonfiction. Her novels are The Motel of the Stars, Editor’s Pick by Oxford American, and Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven, winner of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing. Other stories and essays have appeared in Iron Horse, Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Riverteeth, and in the anthologies An Angle of Vision, Listen Here, Dirt, and To Tell the Truth. Her writing has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. She currently teaches in the Low-Residency MFA Programs at West Virginia Wesleyan University and Murray State University. |
| General Contest Rules Submitted entries must be unpublished. Simultaneous entries are accepted. Manuscripts should be typed in a “plain” 12 point font (i.e. Times, Arial). Photocopies are accepted. Prose must be double spaced. Poetry must be single spaced. Submit one copy of your manuscript with one title page that includes your name, address, telephone number, email address, the title of the piece, and the name of the contest to which you are submitting. Make sure that your name does not appear anywhere besides the title page to insure blind judging. Please enclose a check or money order for $10 per entry. Multiple entries are welcome and may be submitted in one envelope (this includes even if you’re submitting in multiple genres, which we welcome), but please include a separate entry fee for each contest submission, as well as separate title pages for each entry. There is no need to write multiple checks or money orders for more than one entry; one payment for the total amount is encouraged. We do not acknowledge receipt of submissions. And, while we take the greatest care in handling your submissions, we assume no responsibility for lost or damaged manuscripts. Contest entry fees cannot be refunded under any circumstances. Contest winners will be announced and recognized at the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival at LMU on Saturday, June 15, 2013. Contest prizes will be mailed to winners who are not present at the festival’s award ceremony. Contest results will be announced on the festival’s website within the following week. Email notification will be sent to contest entrants if a working email address is included on the submitted title page. Contest results will only be announced online and by email; please do not send a SASE for results. Deadline for postmark is Monday, May 6, 2013. Any entry that is not postmarked on or before that date will not be opened. Failure to follow any of the above guidelines could result in disqualification. Do not send the only copy of your work as all entries will be recycled. Mountain Heritage Literary Festival Writing Contest Lincoln Memorial University P.O. Box 2005 6965 Cumberland Gap Parkway Harrogate, TN 37752 |
Lincoln Memorial University
Cumberland Gap Parkway
P.O. Box 2005
Harrogate, TN 37752
Phone:
423.869.6432 or 800.325.0900, ext. 6432
