ISSUED: 22 March 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Cecelia Mason
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities announces that the West Virginia Fiction Competition is now accepting 2024 submissions. The deadline is May 1. Award-winning writer and West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman will select the winners and write reviews for all finalist stories.
The goal of this competition is to encourage writers and storytellers whose creative writing talent and ability is distinctive and promising, and to foster an appreciation of Appalachian people, culture, and values. Any writer living or attending school in the state may enter.
Eight to ten finalists will be selected by a panel of editors and creative writing teachers. Harshman will choose the winners from those finalists. The first-place prize is $500, and second and third place winners will receive $100. A Judges’ Choice Prize will be awarded to a talented West Virginia middle or high school student. All winners and finalists have the opportunity for publication in the 17th volume of the “Anthology of Appalachian Writers,” which will focus on Harshman’s work.
The West Virginia Library Commission, working in partnership with the Shepherd’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities, sponsors the annual fiction competition. The West Virginia Humanities Council also provides support.
More information and a submission form are available at the Fiction Competition webpage.
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