Submissions are now open for the Creative Writing Program's Spring Writing Contests. Each of 10 contests boasts a $500 prize and is judged by an acclaimed author. Judges for the 2020 contests include:
Molly McCully Brown teaches at Kenyon College where she is the Kenyon Review Fellow in Poetry.
January Gill O'Neil is 2019-2020 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, Oxford.
Sarah Browning, founding director of Split This Rock, is pursuing her MFA in poetry and creative nonfiction at Rutgers University Camden.
Alan Michael Parker is Houchens Professor of English at Davidson College and he also teaches in the University of Tampa's low-residency MFA program.
Sean Murphy was writer-in-residence of the Noepe Center at Martha's Vineyard and he’s Founding Director of Virginia-based 1455 Literary Arts.
Jessica Anthony has recently received fellowships from the Creative Capital Foundation for Innovative Literature, the Bogliasco Foundation in Bogliasco, Italy, and the Maine Arts Commission.
John Lingan is the author of Homeplace: A Southern Town, a Country Legend, and the Last Days of a Mountaintop Honky-Tonk is writing a biography of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Matthew Norman’s new novel, Last Couple Standing, will be published in March 2020 by Ballantine Books.
Melissa Scholes Young is Associate Professor in the Department of Literature at American University in Washington, D.C.
Patricia Smith is a teacher of American literature and creative writing at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School in Petersburg, Virginia.
Contests are open to all students currently enrolled at George Mason University, but some have particular eligibility requirements. Complete bios, eligibility, and guidelines can be found here:
https://creativewriting.gmu.edu/graduate-program/spring-writing-contests
February 18, 2020