The University of Nebraska Press has been publishing prestigious, award-winning literature for seventy-five years, but this contest is a first for UNP. In celebration of our 75th anniversary, UNP will publish a volume of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry written by Nebraska undergraduate college students and high school seniors. Students are invited to submit their contributions in fiction, memoir, poetry, academic essay, and literary and other textual analysis integrating the theme of Voices of Nebraska: Diverse Landscapes, Diverse Peoples. This is a singular opportunity for Nebraska’s budding writers to continue our long tradition and join the ranks of UNP’s countless published writers, every one of whom has helped shape the press we are today.
Eligibility
You are eligible if you:
Are enrolled as an undergraduate student at a Nebraska college or university
Are a Nebraska resident currently enrolled in an out-of-state college
Are a Nebraska high school senior
Theme
Write about Nebraska’s diverse geography and/or people by embracing or contradicting Nebraska’s stereotypes. Draw from experiences, people, authors, land, traditions, history, family, music, current events, trips, research in the fields of Nebraska history or nature, or anything else you can relate to The Good Life. The Nebraska sky is the limit!
Submission
Deadline for submissions is December 1, 2015.
Please send your contribution, along with your completed consent form, as email attachments to UNP_Literary_Contest@unl.edu. Digital submissions only. Paper submissions will not be read, nor will they be returned.
Structure
Fiction and Nonfiction: One story or essay under 7,500 words.
Poetry: No more than three poems. Please include all poems in one document.
Submissions must be a final draft, free of errors.
Entry should be a paginated Word document, double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12-point type.
Please, no running headers or footers.
Content
Each writer may submit one entry. If multiple entries are submitted, all will be rejected.
All submissions should be related to the theme Voices of Nebraska: Diverse Landscapes, Diverse Peoples.
Submissions should be original material and never-before-published in any form. Simultaneous submissions are not permitted.
Each submission must include the completed consent form available on the UNP website to be considered. Any submission lacking the consent form will be rejected.
Include a title page with only the title of the work. All submissions will be judged anonymously and without bias. Your name should not appear anywhere on the submission itself or it will be rejected.
Judges
An internal panel of UNP judges will select the submissions to be included in the volume. From among these to-be-published selections, an external panel will select the top five submissions.
Prizes
Winning submissions will be published in a special 75th anniversary anthology. All winners will receive a copy of the book (additional copies will be for sale). The top five winners selected by the judges will each receive a cash prize of $75.00.
For more information: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/pages/75thAnniversaryLiteraryContest.aspx.