Why I enter contests Contests were the foundation for my career as a published author and scriptwriter. I found contest deadlines AND then wrote like a fiend AND joined writers’ groups for support and education. After years of being a writing instructor, coach, and published author, I’m still entering contests. Why? Beyond that deadline energy contests bring, there’s a bigger reason to enter—INSPIRATION. I’m inspired to learn something new through the experience of scrambling to enter a contest and revise, revise, revise by a deadline. In the past couple of years I entered two poetry contests, though I’m not a poet. I didn’t win but I came away refreshed with new skills that also introduced me to a different culture’s history with poetry. I hope you feel INSPIRED about growing your writing skills and enter the WWA contest. ~ Christine DeSmet, guest judge, WWA contest fiction category |
Eligibility:
Submission Guidelines:*
*Entries that fail to follow submission guidelines will be disqualified.
Publication Rights:
Special note: Please add submit@wiwrite.org to your contact list to ensure timely emails that do not disappear into spam or junk folders.
Prizes:
Thank You To Our Judges
Christine DeSmet - Fiction
Christine is a writer, writing coach, and an award-winning author and scriptwriter. For many years she helmed the Writers’ Institute and the Write-by- the-Lake Writer’s Retreat as well as online writing courses at University of Wisconsin-Madison where she was a Distinguished Faculty Associate of writing. She writes the Fudge Shop Mystery series and the Mischief in Moonstone novella series. She is a member of Blackbird Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Writers Guild of America East, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and Wisconsin Writers Association. Christine shares writer education and news posts regularly on Facebook. |
David McGlynn - Non-fiction David is the author of three books, The End of the Straight and Narrow, A Door in the Ocean, and One Day You’ll Thank Me. He’s a frequent contributor to Men’s Health and Swimmer magazines, and his recent work appears in The American Scholar, Narrative, River Teeth, The New York Times and elsewhere. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin and teaches at Lawrence University. |
Angela Trudell Vasquez - Poetry
Angie is the current city of Madison Poet Laureate (2020-2024) and the first Latina to hold the position. Angie received her MFA in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2017. Recently, her poems have appeared in The Slow Down, Yellow Medicine Review, Poem-a-Day, About Place Journal and in several anthologies. In 2018 she was a finalist for the New Women’s Voices series and her collection, In Light, Always Light, was published by Finishing Line Press in May 2019. Finishing Line Press also published her fourth collection of poetry, My People Redux, in January 2022. In the summer of 2021 she became a Macondo Fellow or a Macondista. She is the current chair of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission. |