ISSUED: 5 April 2021
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities and the West Virginia Center for the Book are accepting submissions for the 2021 West Virginia Fiction Competition. The deadline for submitting work is Saturday, May 1, and submissions should be sent to Dr. Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt, director, Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities.
The competition is free and open to anyone attending school or living in West Virginia. There is a special Judges’ Choice award for middle and high school students. The first-place winner will receive a $500 prize, while second and third place and Judges’ Choice winners will take home $100. Submissions should be unpublished, double-spaced, and not exceed 5,000 words or have received any other awards. Winning and finalists’ stories will have the opportunity to be published in the upcoming Marie Manilla volume of the “Anthology of Appalachian Writers.”
A panel of writers, editors, and creative writing instructors from across West Virginia will choose finalists’ work, which will be sent to award-winning fiction writer Manilla, the 2021 One Book One West Virginia common reading author, who will make the final selections. All finalist stories will receive critiques from Manilla while Judges’ Choice winners will receive feedback from the fiction committee.
For information, visit the West Virginia Fiction Competition website or contact Dr. Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt, director, Shepherd Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities, or Heather Campbell-Shock, director, West Virginia Library Commission.
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