New West society encourages authors to enter content

  • 2021-03-10
The Royal City Literary Arts Society will be bringing back its annual writing contest, with cash prizes and publication at stake.

The Write On contest accepts submissions in the genres of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Fiction and non-fiction pieces should be no more than 1,500 words, and poems should be at most one single-spaced page. Work submitted for previous versions of the contest, but did not win, or work that has been published elsewhere with the author retaining copyright, can both be submitted.

The submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges, with author names and biographies removed to ensure fair evaluation. The contest is part of the society’s efforts to maintain a literary community in New Westminster, including virtual author talks and open mics.

Each genre will have a first, second and third place winner, with the selected authors receiving $150, $100 and $75 cash awards. The winners and an additional three honourable mentions from each genre will be published in Wordplay at Work, the society’s e-zine. Contests and publications like this, which often use electronic media as well as printing services, are a staple of local literary scenes and can help emerging authors grow and achieve recognition.

The 2021 edition of the Write On contest is open for submissions until April 1, with the winners being selected in the following weeks.