Essay Contest: Writing High School

Looking for narratives on high school life. Whether you are/were a student, teacher, counselor, coach or custodian, we’re looking for your stories.
Don’t think these essays all need to be chicken soup for the soul. We’re looking for well-written essays with an honest voice.

Possible topics:
A specific experience with a student or group of students
A success or failure story
1st year stories
An inspirational teacher
Why I became a teacher
Why I left teaching
Politics – NCLB, banned books, budget cuts
Scandals
Sports/Coaching
Summer school
Discipline, detentions
Humorous account of daily high school life

Essay must be 5,000 words or less. Names of students must be changed.

Prizes:
1st place winner will be awarded $50, plus publication in Miranda Literary Magazine.

2nd and 3rd place winners will be awarded $25, plus publication in our anthology.

The top 10 finalists will be published in a collection of essays entitled Writing High School.

Electronic Submissions:
Send an email with “Writing High School contest” as the subject to bouchard308@gmail.com. Include a brief biography with the work posted in the email. We will not open or consider any attachments. The Reading Board will read your work and then make a decision. Please add your name, phone and an email address to your email body so that we may contact you concerning your submission.

Deadline for submissions: November 15, 2007

The Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest

The Atlantic Monthly invites submissions of poetry, fiction, and personal orjournalistic essays for its 2007 Student Writing Contest.CategoriesPoetry, fiction, and personal or journalistic essays.

PrizesFirst $1,000 Second: $500 Third: $250and one-year subscriptions to The Atlantic Monthly for seven runners-up ineach category.ENTRANTS must be full-time undergraduate or graduate students currentlyenrolled in an accredited degree-granting U.S. institution.

Submissions should beoriginal, unpublished work (they may have appeared in student periodicals)demonstrating superior quality of expression and craftsmanship.SUBMISSIONS should not exceed three poems or 7,500 words of prose. No entrantmay send more than one submission per category, and entries must bepostmarked by December 1, 2007.

MANUSCRIPTS should be typewritten (one side only, please) double-spaced, andaccompanied by a cover sheet with the following information: title, category,word count, author’s name, address, phone number, e-mail address (ifavailable), and academic institution. Of this information, only the title should appearon the manuscript itself.PLEASE PROVIDE a stamped, self-addressed postcard for acknowledgement ofreceipt. We cannot provide information on the status of a manuscript until winnersare announced, in the May 2008 issue. Winners will receive notification inMarch.

POSTMARK SUBMISSIONS BY DECEMBER 1, 2007, AND SEND TO:Student Writing ContestThe Atlantic MonthlyThe Watergate600 New Hampshire Ave, N.W.Washington, D.C. 20037Submissions will not be accepted via e-mail or fax.

Significant Finds Contest – $500 Prize

The Herald Sparrow is sponsoring a Significant Finds Contest to benefit New Southerner. The winner will receive $500.

A significant find is a natural object or an artifact not originally intended as art, found and considered to have aesthetic value. Some examples: A cool rock; the symbolism of an extension cord plugged into itself; milk jug rings found under the refrigerator; what Lincoln Logs reveal about life. (See www.heraldsparrow.com for more examples.) According to Herald Sparrow editor Fred Miller, “Significant finds are the kinds of discoveries that can change the way we see ourselves and the world we live in. Or, not. But they can still be fun.”

GUIDELINES:

Contest entries should include the following.

1. a headline
–there is a separate prize of $50.00 for the best headline.

2. a find
–images are not required and finds may be entirely conceptual. An image can be included but photographic images of persons will not be considered in support of any contest entry.

3. a brief report about the significance of the find, any theories, speculation, and maybe the usual calls for further study.

4. Entry fee of $10.00.

DEADLINE: October 1. Awards will be announced in November and in the winter issue of New Southerner.

HOW TO ENTER:
Send your entry by mail, with checks made out to Swallowtail Press, to:

Herald Sparrow

Box 4006

Louisville, KY 40204

Send your entry by e-mail (you will be prompted to pay your entry fee electronically via a secure Paypal link) to:
sparrowentries@newsoutherner.com

HOW TO WIN:
There are no rules, but keep it clean. The dumbest thing you can think of has about as good a chance as the most brilliant, so don’t try too hard. Show or tell something you’ve noticed and what you guess it means.

JUDGES:

* Fairleigh Brooks, the first Kentuckian to win the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, and author of Notes Of A Would-Be Astronaut

* Chuck Swanson of Swanson Reed Gallery and Swanson Reed Contemporary

* Lynn Winter of Lynn’s Paradise Café

QUESTIONS: editor@heraldsparrow.com.

Join the Miranda Literary Magazine Team

Miranda Literary Magazine is a growing online source for fiction, poetry, essays, articles, books, reviews, podcasts, and visual art. If you are an MFA student or someone interested in contributing to our magazine, please look at some of areas of interest below and let us know what your interests are. As you consider a special project or internship, consider working with Miranda Literary Magazine, or Miranda Films, as part of your work. We can tailor our needs to fit your course outline. We will contact your professors and okay your involvement. If you are looking for two hours a week as a course supplement, or an internship opportunity, we can make it work. Areas of interest include, web editing, marketing, public relations, content and slush pile editing, promotional materials, and more. Below are some of the projects we need help in. If they don’t interest you in your direct coursework, tell us what does.

I mention the length or scope of the some of these projects because of time commitments. Some are very extensive, some are interactive.

• Editor’s Blog Editor - further developing the editor’s blog to make it more useful to promote the magazine and our contributors. (course supplement)
• Miranda Films Blog Editor – managing content on the Miranda Films news and reviews. (course supplement)
• Contributors Director – creating a master list of all the contributors to the magazine and a brief bio. (internship)
• Public Relations Manager – creating an email list of all our contacts, and writing press releases, news, and articles. Also must plan the best way to deliver this content i.e. email, postcards, events (AWP in New York), ect. Acting spokes person for the magazine.(internship)
• Reading Board Manager – get more out of our reading board, from recruitment to reading submissions. How do we make the reading board members feel important?(Enrichment)
• Sectional managers - work in dedicated sections to help the fiction, poetry, or arts sections with the work load. (course supplement)
• Podcasting Director – creating a plan for recording, producing, and publishing podcasts out to our readership. (course supplement)
• International Development Director – create a plan for attracting writers and artists from all over the world, engaging translators, and other outlets to find work that we can present from other countries. (enrichment)
• Advertising Revenue Development – create and develop a plan to add advertising without interfering with the readers experience. Generating operational revenue is the goal.

More projects to be added to our list.

Please feel free to contact RON at ronsamul@gmail.com with any questions or ideas. Carmen Palmer is also very active in our project development and she is a good source of ideas and inspiration. Thanks for your interest as an intern or volunteer at our growing magazine.

Dorene O’Brien and her new Collection.

Miranda fiction contributor Dorene O’Brien will be debuting her new short story collection soon. Voices of the Lost and Found is forthcoming from Wayne State University Press in May 2007, is peopled with characters whose voices are uniquely theirs, such as the urban graffiti artist who plots the downfall of a rival gang, the middle aged woman reliving a harrowing childhood abduction, or the crisis line operator whose advice is colored by his own battle with depression. The collection traverses a cross section of lives in urban America, offering insights into the workings of various minds under the pressure of loss and alienation in settings as varied as the characters in the book. The stories occur in abandoned buildings, convenience stores, crisis intervention centers, university dorms, Buddhist retreats, psychiatrists’ offices and remote cabins, but they are united by their vivid evocation and authenticity, and they provide a telling backdrop for the narrators’ lives and struggles. These voices provide fresh perspective on both contemporary social issues and on contemporary angst, and the stories as a whole mirror the complexity and diversity of these modern times.

See her Fiction at Miranda Literary Magazine

See Dorene O’Brien’s Website.

Miranda Poet on Rattle

Poet Arlene Ang has a poem titled A Driving Student Adjusts His Seat on Rattle Audio right now. Click the link below and listen to her work. Arlene Ang lives in Spinea, Itlay where she is an editor and poet. Her work as appeared in Diagram, Forklift Ohio, Painted Bride Quaterly, and Poetry Ireland. She is the recipient of the 2006 Frogmore Poetry Prize and three of her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Anthology for 2006.

http://www.rattle.com/audio.htm