Knoxville Writers' Guild  -  Contests 2008

For further information, please contact the Contests Coordinator.

The Knoxville Writers' Guild sponsors the following annual literary contests with more than $1,200 in prizes for poetry, fiction, and essays.   Enter as many of these contests as you like: Deadline is February 29 for statewide writing contests from the Knoxville Writers’ Guild. Previous contest winners can be viewed on the Career Achievement Award page for each year.

  Winners from previous contests:  2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

General Guidelines  

The following guidelines apply to all KWG contests. See specific guidelines under each contest heading for individual exceptions or additions.

Deadline is February 29 for statewide writing contests from the Knoxville Writers’ Guild.

The following General Guidelines apply to all KWG contests. See Specific Guidelines under each contest heading for individual exceptions or additions.

1. Contests are open to all residents of Tennessee above the age of 18 with the following exceptions: Members of the KWG board of directors and contests committee may not submit entries to KWG competitions. Previous first prizewinners are barred from the contest they won for one year. Also, see Specific Guidelines under Young Writer’s Prize for exceptions to that contest.

2. Contestants may enter more than one contest simultaneously. Please see each contest’s Specific Guidelines regarding multiple submissions.

3. All deadlines are midnight February 29, 2008.

4. Winners and runners-up will be announced in early to mid-April, and will be honored at the KWG Gala the afternoon of Saturday, April 26. Include SASE to receive a list of winners or check out the KWG website.

5. Include a cover sheet with each entry, clearly designating the contest you are entering. Include your name, address, phone number and email address (optional) on cover sheets only. A cover sheet must accompany each entry. Do not put name or other identifying information on the entries themselves. They will be coded, by number, for judging by members of the Guild. No email submissions. No previously published works.

6. Manuscripts will not be returned; keep copies.

7. See below for descriptions of individual contests, deadlines, judges and any specific rules for a particular contest.

8. Except for the KWG Award for Fiction, in honor of Leslie Garrett , and the KWG Young Writers' Prize in Poetry, contests charge a $20 entry fee for nonmembers and $10 for Guild members. Guild membership is $25 per year; $10 for students. To join, make checks payable to KWG or pay by credit card at our website, www.knoxvillewritersguild.org.

9. Prizes: First Prize - $150, Second Prize - $100, Third Prize - $50.

10. Send to:
(Name of Contest)
Awards Office
The Knoxville Writers’ Guild
P.O. Box 10326
Knoxville, TN 37939

11. By submitting to the contest, in consideration for any and all
compensation or prizes, writer grants Knoxville Writers’ Guild first
publication rights to first place, second place, third place, and
honorable mention works. Writer retains all other rights.

Enter as many of the following contests as you wish:

The KWG Award for Fiction
In memory of the late Knoxville author, Leslie Garrett.
Fee: There is no fee for entering this contest.
Specific Guidelines: 1. Entry consists of one short story or novel
excerpt totaling no more than 5,000 words each. 2. Only one entry per
contestant. 3. Please, include the word count on the cover sheet.
See General Guidelines.

The KWG Award for Poetry
In memory of Libba Moore Gray and Terry Semple.
Fee: $10 for KWG members; $20 for nonmembers.
Specific Guidelines: 1. Entry consists of no more than three typed poems. 2. Multiple submissions O.K.
See General Guidelines.

The KWG Award for Creative Nonfiction
This year’s topic is Streets, Avenues, and Roads. The piece can relate to any street, avenue, or road as long as it is real and identified in the piece. Other names may be changed. Since this is creative nonfiction, the piece should read more like a story than an essay, with a very strongly developed sense of place, and elements of conflict and character development (the author and/or any other persons in the story). The street, avenue, or road does not necessarily have to feature the author; it can involve someone the author knew or knew about. Preference will be given to narrow subject matter--an event, an experience, or memory binding the author or another real character to the street, avenur, or road, for good or bad, comedic or tragic, past or present.
Fee: $10 for KWG members; $20 for nonmembers.
Specific Guidelines: 1. Entry consists of one typed, double-spaced nonfiction essay of no more than 3,000 words. 2. Multiple submissions O.K.
See General Guidelines.

The Young Writers' Poetry Prize
Fee: There is no fee for entering this contest.
Specific Guidelines: 1. Entry consists of three typed poems of no more than totaling 100 lines or fewer. Please, only one entry per contestant. 2. No restrictions as to style or content. 3. Open to all high school students in the Greater Knoxville Area of East Tennessee. 4. No identifying information on poems themselves; a cover sheet must be attached with student's name, address, phone number, as well as school's name, address and phone number (except in the case of home-schooled students).
See General Guidelines.

KWG is also proud to sponsor The Peter Taylor Prize for the Novel. For more about KWG contests, visit www.knoxvillewritersguild.org or write to “Contests” at PO Box 10326, Knoxville, TN 37939.

For further information, please contact the Contests Coordinator.