Wisconsin writers and poets need to put the final touches on their contest entries for work published in 2017 and get them in to the Council for Wisconsin by the Jan. 31, 2018, deadline. That’s Wednesday.
The contest categories are book-length and short fiction and nonfiction, book-length poetry and five individual poems, children’s literature and student essays.
First-place winners for all but student essays receive $500 and a one-week writer’s residency at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI. Honorable mention recipients receive $50 and a one-week writer’s residency at the Painted Forest Study Center in Valton, WI. The student essay winner receives $250.
Awards will be presented at a banquet in May at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee. Out-of-state judges will make the selections.
Contest entries must be postmarked no later than Jan. 31, 2018. Authors and poets whose work is entered must be current Wisconsin residents. The entry fee is $25. Membership in CWW is not required, but members are entitled to one free entry. Complete details and entry forms are at http://wiswriters.org/contest-entry-forms/. There is no entry fee for the Essay Award for Young Writers (1,500 word maximum) contest, which is open to Wisconsin high school students. Members of the CWW board will judge the entries, which must also be postmarked no later than Jan. 31, 2018.
The Christopher Latham Sholes Award for 2017 will also be presented at the May banquet. That award, which includes a prize of $500, is named for Christopher Latham Sholes (1819–1890), a Wisconsinite who is credited with inventing the first practical typewriter, and honors an individual or organization for outstanding encouragement of Wisconsin writers.
Specific guidelines, entry forms, how to join CWW and other information about the organization are at the Council for Wisconsin Writers website at www.wiswriters.org. For questions, please contact CWW board member Jerrianne Hayslett through the website at http://wiswriters.org/about/board-of-directors/.