Dr. Gordon D. & Brenda Bush High School Writers' Contest
Contest Sponsored by The Friends of Lovejoy Library
Contest Rules - Contest Deadline: February 28, 2022
Contest Eligibility
Contestants must be juniors or seniors at a high school in Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, St. Clair, or Washington County.
Entries may have been written as part of a class project, but may not be published nor edited by anyone before submittal.
Categories and Prizes
All prizes for this competition are SIUE Scholarships. If the student that wins first or second place does not attend SIUE within 12 months of their high school graduation date, their scholarship will be forfeited. These scholarships will not be awarded until the student has enrolled and started attending classes at SIUE.
- Fiction - 3,000 words or less. Prizes: First $1,000, Second $500
- Nonfiction - 2,000 words or less. Prizes: First $1,000, Second $500
- Poetry (rhymed or unrhymed) - 40 lines or less. Prizes: First $1,000, Second $500
Contestants may enter only one work in each category, but may enter as many categories as they wish. A contestant may win only one category.
Manuscript Entry Requirements
Entries must be the first submitted copy of the original work of the contestants. Please, no research papers.
Manuscripts must be prepared as follows:
- Typed, pages numbered, and free from grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and other technical writing errors.
- Fiction and nonfiction must be double-spaced. Poetry may be single-spaced.
- Contestants' names or school names must not be on the manuscripts, only on the entry form.
- The manuscript must be submitted as a PDF file.
- The file name of your manuscript entry must follow the following file name format: Last Name, School, Category. For example, John Wilson from Trinity High School entering into the category of Poetry should save their entry as a PDF with the file name: WilsonTrinityPoetry.
Entries will not be returned; contestants should keep copies of their own files.
Entries that do not comply with the rules will be disqualified.
Contest Details
Entries must be submitted no later than February 28, 2022. Winners will be notified by the end of March 2022. Prizes will be distributed at an Awards Banquet on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. Faculty members from the SIUE Department of English Language and Literature will serve as the final judges.
All winning entries will be printed in a booklet. Winning authors will receive a copy of the booklet. All high schools will receive a copy of the booklet. First serial rights will belong to SIUE. Authors will retain all other rights.
Many submissions are impressive efforts, yet are not selected for final consideration because of technical errors in writing. Please ensure that your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other technical elements are free of errors and that you follow all guidelines listed in the Contest Rules.
How to Enter
- Make sure that your manuscript entry adheres to the Contest Rules detailed above, that the text of your manuscript does not contain your name or school affiliation, and that the file you intend to enter into the contest is saved as a PDF with the correct file name.
- Complete the entry form and upload your entry. If you are making submissions in multiple categories, you will need to fill out the form separately for each submission.
If you have any questions about the Dr. Gordon D. & Brenda Bush High School Writers' Contest, please contact Andrea Keller, Director of Development, at andkell@siue.edu.
