[These rules and guidelines can also be downloaded as a PDF here.]

The Carolina Prize for Writing contest is sponsored annually by the Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild. This year, three prizes will be awarded: one for prose, one for poetry, and one for cover art/photography. Up to five honorable mentions may also be named for each.

(Past winners listed at the bottom of this page.)

Winning entries will receive:

• $100.00

• Publication in the next issue of County Lines: A Literary Journal
  (The winning artwork will be featured as the cover for the issue.)

• Two copies of the journal

Honorable mentions will receive:

• Publication in the next issue of County Lines: A Literary Journal

• One copy of the journal

General Restrictions

• Entrants can be of any age or from any location worldwide.

• Work must be original and previously unpublished (including online publication).

• Work may not contain erotica, violence, hate, political editorial, or excessive profanity.

How to Enter Your Work

one entry = email + attached cover sheet + attached work(s)
(limited to one category: prose, poetry, or art)

Step 1. Email Your Entry

• Email your entry to CPWG.CarolinaPrize@gmail.com

• Be sure your subject line reads Carolina Prize Entry

• Multiple entries (via separate emails) are permitted.

• Attach your work(s) (see detail below) to the email as a .docx or .doc file(s) (prose or poetry) or a .jpg file(s) (art).
  ANONYMIZE YOUR WORK(S).  The contest is reviewed blindly by third-party judges (see below):

  • • Strip any author-, poet-, or artist-identifying information from the work itself.

    • Remove any identifying information from image or document filenames.

• Attach a cover sheet (separately) to the email as a .docx or .doc containing the following:

• • Your name and the name under which you prefer to be published, if applicable

  • Your mailing address, email address, and phone number

  • The title or titles of your works

  • A bio of no more than 70 words written in the third-person point of view

Detail: The Attached Work(s)

Prose entries may contain only 1 work of prose of no more than 3,000 words (excluding title).

Poetry entries may contain up to 3 poems of no more than 30 lines each (excluding title and stanza-separating empty lines). Attach each poem to the email as a separate .docx or .doc document.

Art entries may contain up to 3 separate .jpg images.

Formatting the content of your work …

• WRITTEN WORKS: Author William Shunn provides an excellent resource that demonstrates standard manuscript formatting: prose and poetry. (Though, remember to leave out the identifying information.)

• ARTWORK: portrait orientation and high-quality images are best.

Step 2. Send Your Entry Fee

• • $10.00 per entry (multiple entries permitted via multiple emails and $10 per entry)

• • Payment due by the entry deadline. Two methods:

    • Paypal: send $10 to CPWG.CarolinaPrize@gmail.com
      (please choose "Friends and Family")
      … or …

    • Snail mail: send a $10 check to …
      Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild
      PO Box 31, Kittrell, NC 27544

Rights

The Carolina Prize is an independently judged competition (see below). Winners and honorable mentions will be published in County Lines. Non-winning works will NOT automatically be included in the next issue of County Lines. If your entered work does not win or receive an honorable mention, please submit it during our general, non-contest, open submissions reading window for County Lines when it opens in mid-March.

By entering a work for consideration, you implicitly grant first publication rights to the Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild in the event the work is accepted for inclusion. All proceeds from the Carolina Prize contest help fund the Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild’s efforts to promote and support the activities and endeavors of the Guild.

Prose

Lori Hayes

Lori Hayes is an award-winning, bestselling author who writes compelling, heartfelt stories with themes of community, family, friendship, and deep connections with complicated people, feral animals, and wild horses. Her unique settings come to life and become characters themselves. Learn more at lorihayesauthor.com.