Shepherd University

Shepherd announces West Virginia New Writers Fiction Competition

ISSUED: 8 March 2005
CONTACT: Valerie Owens
304/876-5465
(Shepherd announces West Virginia New Writers Fiction Competition)

Shepherdstown, WV--Shepherd University announces the fourth annual West Virginia New Writers Fiction Competition is now accepting submissions from writers ages 14-40 across the state. Any original, unpublished work of fiction between 500 and 2,500 words will be accepted before the Sunday, May 1 deadline. The competition is dedicated to recognizing and encouraging novice writers across the state whose talent and ability in creative writing is distinctive and evinces unusual promise.

Shepherd's 2005 writer in residence Jayne Ann Phillips will make the final selection. Winning writers will dine with Phillips and their prizes will be awarded at the Appalachian Heritage Festival concert Friday, September 30. The first place winner will receive $500 and read his or her story at the concert.

Phillips is the winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction for her collection of short stories, Black Ticket and received a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and a Radcliff College Bunting Fellowship. She was nominated for the National Book Critics Award for Machine Dreams (1984), which was chosen by the New York Times Book Review as one of 12 Best Books of the Year. Phillips was also given an Academy Award in Literature by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for her novel Shelter (1994), which was selected as a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. Currently living and teaching in Boston, Phillips will be present Monday, September 26-Saturday, October 1 for a variety of events and special programs associated with the residency.

Submissions should be mailed before the Sunday, May 1 deadline to: West Virginia New Writers Fiction Competition, Department of English and Modern Languages, Shepherd University, P.O. Box 3210, Shepherdstown, West Virginia 25443. The West Virginia New Writers Fiction competition is sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council and Shepherd University. For more information contact Dr. Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt, Appalachian Heritage project director, at 304/876-5207 or sshurbut@shepherd.edu, or visit www.shepherd.edu/ahwirweb/new_writers.html.

-30-HORST

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