sponsors a contest called the
with a March 1, 2020 deadline
The Details(in their words):This contest is open to only high school student writers (ages 14-18) from around the world, in all genres of creative writing: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for young adults & children, & hybrid work. Students in Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA Program in Writing & Publishing will judge submissions and choose an overall winner, as well as a finalist in each genre. The winner will receive $100 and online publication, and the finalists' names will be listed online.
Our goal with this prize is to foster the next generation of creative writers, and to encourage young people to make their voices heard. We look forward to reading your best work.
We accept, per entry:
- One short story of up to 5,000 words
- One essay of up to 5,000 words
- One document with up to 3 poems included
- One piece of writing for children of up to 5,000 words
Hunger Mountain is the print literary journal based out of Vermont's College of Fine Arts. They describe themselves as such:
Past contributors to Hunger Mountain include Elizabeth Acevedo, Dilruba Ahmed, Pinckney Benedict, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Destiny O. Birdsong, Robin Black, Ron Carlson, Hayden Carruth, Lucy Corin, Kwame Dawes, Matthew Dickman, Mark Doty, Rita Dove, Santee Frazier, Terrance Hayes, Robin Hemley, Bob Hicok, Tony Hoagland, Lily Hoang, Pam Houston, Major Jackson, W. Todd Kaneko, Maxine Kumin, Dorianne Laux, Kelly Link, Robert Lopez, Sidney Lea, Michael Martone, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Naomi Shihab Nye, Gregory Orr, Ann Pancake, Carl Phillips, Jordy Rosenberg, Tomaž Šalamun, Charles Simic, Jake Skeets, Patricia Smith, James Tate, Paul Tran, Jean Valentine, L. Lamar Wilson, Tiphanie Yanique, and many others.
Hunger Mountain was started in 2002 by founding editor Caroline Mercurio through a generous donation from a Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing alumnus. The journal has since thrived with the assistance of MFA in Writing faculty & ongoing support from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, VCFA alums, subscribers, & friends. Miciah Bay Gault served as Editor from 2009-2018, & the journal is now run by students in VCFA’s MFA in Writing & Publishing Program & Editor Erin Stalcup.
For the Adults, the same deadline:
They also hold contests in multiple genres with a March 1st deadline which do have fees, they all have a grand prize of $1000, except the chapbook contest which is $100 and 50 copies of really finely made chapbooks.- Poetry (Ruth Stone Poetry Prize 3 poems, $20 entry)
- Fiction (Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize, up to 8000 words, $20 entry)
- Non Fiction (unnamed, up to 8k words, $20 entry)
- Chapbook (May Day Mountain Chapbook Series, any genre, 30-50 page, $10 entry)
- YA/Children's lit (Katherine Paterson Prize, up to 8000 words, $20 entry)
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Do something good with your springSo if you know a teenager that's interested in writing, maybe take them under your wing briefly and guide them through some writing exercises or workshop their pieces once you make it very clear that you're not telling them their words are bad, but just that for this venue, you know how they would like the piece to read... Really you're just doing a workshop with kid-gloves, but one which will help them progress. Or just encourage them to submit if they have solid pieces. They can submit once to each genre as well, so remember that if they write in multiple genres. Get a kid on the right literary path this spring and put a little "I did a good thing" pep in your step.
