Article/Essay Rules-2008 Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference

  • Article/Essay must be the original work of the author and not have been previously published
  • Article/Essay submission can be:

1) Research/Reporting based, or 2)First Person Narrative

  • $30 contest entry fee plus conference registration fee must be received before the submission is judged
  • Deadline for submission is Friday, June 13, 2008
  • Our judges will select the top 50 entries from all the submissions and will invite them to participate in the peer-review workshops on Friday, July 18 beginning at 9 a.m. at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center
  • The top three Research/Reporting based and First Person Narrative essays will be honored at the Literary Lights Awards Dinner on Saturday, July 19. Winners will receive plaques and cash prizes of $3,000-1st Place, $2,000-2nd Place, $1,000-3rd Place. Four runners-up will receive honorable mention. The essays from all 10 winners will be published in the 2009 edition of Ten Spurs, the literary journal jointly published by Hearst Newspapers and the UNT-Mayborn School of Journalism
  • Submissions should be addressed to:

George Getschow, Conference Writer-in-Residence

The Mayborn School of Journalism-University of North Texas

P.O. Box 311460

Denton, Texas 76203-1460 Postmarked no later than Friday, June 13, 2008

IMPORTANT:

  1. Complete the Conference Contest Application Form (This is the cover sheet that includes your contact information and the title of the story. Include it with your submission. See Page 2)
  2. To enable impartial judging please do not put your name on any of the story pages
  3. The article or essay can not exceed 20 pages, double-spaced. Submissions should be paginated, and set with one-inch margins. We recommend Times New Roman style, 12-point type.
  4. We require 2paper copies of your submission which should be unstapled and presented in two separate folders.
  5. We require an electronic copy of your submission as well. Send these to:
  6. About three weeks prior to the conference, writers selected for the peer-review workshops will receive by email a packet containing:
  • letter of acceptance, which must be signed and returned to the Mayborn Institute,
  • copies of all peer-review workshop submissions, 9 total
  • critique sheets and instructions
  • the time and location of the workshop to which the writer has been assigned.
  • Writers selected for the workshops are expected to print out and carefully read all the submissions (9 total) in the assigned workshop before coming to the conference. Each writer is expected to make written notations on the submissions and on the critique sheets. Each workshop participant will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the submissions with respect to:

  • clarity,
  • comprehensiveness,
  • creativity,
  • the presence or lack of a narrative thread,
  • vivid and concrete detail,
  • anecdotes,
  • metaphor,
  • scene setting,
  • dialogue and other literary devices used in writing the story.

Application Form

Name:______

Address:______

City______State______Zip______

Phone:______Cell:______

E-mail Address:______

Name of Article/Essay:______

After registering for the conference send this application form and your submission to:

George Getschow, Conference Writer-in-Residence

The Mayborn School of Journalism-University of North Texas

P.O. Box 311460

Denton, Texas 76203-1460 Postmarked no later than Friday, Jun 13, 2008