Entries are now being accepted for the 2013 Southern Writers Symposium Emerging Writers Contest. This year categories will feature fiction and poetry.

 The first-place writer in each category will be invited to read from his or her winning work at the conference and receive a cash award of $300. Second place writers will receive $200. All winners will be invited to attend the Symposium. The contest is open to writers who meet at least two of the following criteria: 

• currently live in the South;
• are natives of the South;
• write about the South.

Additionally, writers must have not yet published a full-length volume in the genre that they are entering. For example, writers are still eligible for the emerging fiction writers contest if published in volume form in nonfiction or poetry. 

 Submission Guidelines

 Deadline: January 7, 2013

Fee (non-refundable): $15/per entry payable to Southern Writers Symposium

Manuscripts of fiction considered: up to 5,000 words, typed and double-spaced

Poetry considered: a single poem, or up to five to be counted as a group, typed. 

• Entry must not have been previously published in any form. Entry must not have previously won recognition in any other contest. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable.

For entries submitted via snail mail, a cover sheet with the author’s name, address, phone number, e-mail address, title, and genre of work submitted as well as a brief bio and statement that the author meets the eligibility guidelines should be included. The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript. For entries via http://southernwriters.submittable.com/submit, directions on the site should be followed.

 Submit online: http://southernwriters.submittable.com/submit

 Submit by snail mail:

Southern Writers Symposium, Emerging Writers Contest, Department of English and Writing, Methodist University, 5400 Ramsey St., Fayetteville NC 28311.

 Winners will be announced on the Southern Writers Symposium Web site (methodist.edu/sws/index.htm) by February 1, so an SASE is unnecessary. Entries will not be critiqued or returned; paper entries will be recycled.