Submissions Due Thursday, March 20, 2008 5:00pm!!
Seven $500 prizes will be awarded to CU-Boulder students in the spring of 2008 for manuscripts on Western American topics.
We invite submissions in the following categories:
- Graduate Non-Fiction: including academic papers, journalism, essays
- Undergraduate Non-Fiction: including academic papers, journalism, essays
- Graduate Fiction: including short stories, novels, plays, screenplays
- Undergraduate Fiction: including short stories, novels, plays, screenplays
- Poetry: single poems only (no collections) - open to students at all levels of study
- First Person Narrative: including Memoirs and Autobiographical Essays - open to students at all levels of study
- Special Topic: Immigration - open to students of all levels and open to all genres
Each manuscript may be entered in only one category (for example, a journalistic piece may NOT be entered to both non-fiction and memoir categories). All submissions must be previously unpublished.
- Eligibility: Contestants must be enrolled in a degree program at CU-Boulder for the duration of the fall 2007 semester and/or the duration of the spring 2008 semester, or have graduated from a degree program at CU-Boulder in the spring 2007 Students may enter no more than one manuscript per prize category. Grad students may not enter work into undergraduate categories, even if written while an undergraduate student.
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Criteria: Entries will be evaluated on relevance to an understanding of the American West*, and level of appeal to a broad, informed audience. Papers must be proofread carefully and, with the exception of poetry, follow standard manuscript form (double-spacing, paragraphs indented five to eight spaces, page numbers included, etc.). Grammar and mechanics should be precise, and organization should be strong.
*It is no easy matter to define the West or the quality of "Westerness." In general, we think of the West as the territory between the 100th Meridian and the Pacific Coast , though Alaska or Hawaii should not be so easily excluded. We recognize that the Myth of the West has played a great role in history and still carries much influence in regional life today, and so we understand that some eligible writings will address the material reality of the West (cities, highways, ranches, mines, resorts, suburbs, national parks, dams, wildlife, etc.) and some equally eligible writings will address the West of dreams, expectations, hopes, and imaginings (factors which, in truth, shape material reality and human behavior in very concrete ways).
- Entries must include:
- Four duplicate titled paper manuscript copies without any author identification.
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One coversheet available for download here
Entries missing any of the items listed above will not be considered. Manuscripts will not be returned.
- Publication Consent: Submission of material implies author's guarantee that the work has not yet been published and is not scheduled for publication. It also implies consent to Center of the American West for publication and website posting if selected. The winning authors will be required to sign a publication consent form before prize will be awarded.
- Submissions must be received in their entirety at our office by Thursday, March 20, 2008, 5:00 PM. Late and incomplete submissions, regardless of postmark date, will not be considered. Faxed submissions will not be accepted.
- Prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the judges. A prize may not be awarded in a category if no entry is deemed worthy. All entries will be submitted to a plagiarism detection service.
- Deliver submissions to:
Center of the American West
University of Colorado at Boulder
Macky Auditorium, Room 229A
282 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309