The yearly English Department Writing Contest is coming up again. For students who don’t know this is a great way to recycle old papers and actually get paid. ^^ Prizes range from $50-$200, which is not so bad for work that you have already done. In addition to critical essays, there are also specific for creative work such as poetry, fiction and drama. The deadline to apply is midnight March 22nd so you should start putting together your portfolios now. All submissions should be emailed to the following address: [email protected]. Below I listed some important submission guidelines:
1. All work must be formatted according to MLA
2. In the email you should include your name, student ID (Social Security #), a pseudonym, class standing, home address, phone number and email address.
3. Attach to email, as separate documents, each entry in each genre (include genre category in title of each attachment)
4. Include Pseudonym on upper left hand corner of first page of the submission and in right hand corner of every page of the submission next to the page numbers
5. Put all work in a single genre together in document. The categories are: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, or the Composition categories; ENGL 95, ENGL 110, and ENGL 120. Page limits are as follows: Nonfiction and Fiction is 20 pgs; Poetry 10 pgs; and Drama (2 one-act plays or one full-length play).
Below are the possible prizes you can win. I bolded some of the exciting new ones that were just added:
Composition Prize for Work Done in English 95
Composition Prize for Work Done in English 110
Composition Prize for Work Done in English 120
Silverstein-Peiser Awards in Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Drama
Zolot Prizes in Fiction and Poetry
Eichler Memorial Prize in Poetry
Harry Glick Prize in Fiction
Elizabeth Pines Ergas Memorial Award in Post-Modern Fiction
Neal Feld Memorial Award for Work in Fiction and/or Poetry
Rosemary Deen Prize for a Personal Essay
Leonard Deen Prize for an Essay on Poetry
Clinton Oliver Prize for Work in Black American Studies
Kay Kier Prize for an Essay on Herman Melville
Leo Statsy Prize for Work on the Immigrant Experience
Queens College Alumni Prize for an Essay on Gender and Sexuality
QC Alumni Prize for an Essay on Latino/Latina Studies
QC Alumni Prize for an Essay on Asian American Studies
The Amelia; or The Faithless Briton Award for Best Essay on Early American Studies (Contact until 1830)
I think it is so exciting that the English Department is making a more pronounced effort to solicit works concerning immigrant and racial, minority experiences. I really encourage all QC students to apply because you really have nothing to lose. The first time I entered the contest I was really skeptical about my writing abilities and whether I could actually win but I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t think that the competition is very stiff because relatively few students know about the contest and even fewer apply. I remember that last year the deadline was actually extended because there were not enough submissions for some categories, I think poetry in particular *hint hint* ^^ You do not need to be an English major or minor to apply so long as your papers, especially for the non-fiction category, involve an examination of literary texts (actually I won an award for an essay I wrote about a film so I guess the definition of “texts” is rather broad) =] Well I hope many of you decide to apply and good luck to all ^^
The information I listed here is also available in print form in the English Department.
