Over the last several months, we’ve had the opportunity to meet with many of our members and discuss your concerns and hopes for the CWG in the coming year. One issue we wanted to address is our contests, both our Monthly Contest series, as well as our Spring Writing Contest. After receiving and discussing all of your feedback, as well as evaluating the responses we’ve received to our contests over the past several years, we’ve decided to make some changes:
- We will continue with our Monthly Contest series through 2023, but we will not hold our Spring Writing Contest.
- We will be announcing the theme of each Monthly Contest further in advance and will be providing more time for writers to submit.
- The Monthly Contests will no longer be judged by popular vote, and instead the winner will be decided by a judge or a panel of judges. This also will eliminate the need to post submissions online and thus creating the issue of having them be considered “previously published.”
- The Monthly Contests will remain open to members only and free to submit to. Winners will receive $25, publication in the next anthology, and a free copy. We will also have a runner-up each month, who will also receive publication and a free copy.
- The Monthly Contests will rotate through a pattern of Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction throughout the year, with a new theme each month.
Our January Contest will be open to submissions of poetry with the theme of “Appalachia.” Writers are invited to interpret that as loosely or closely as they wish. Limit 40 lines. Our judge will be CWG founder and poet Helga Kidder. Submissions will be open January 1st – 31st, with the winner announced in February. You can find the submission form under the “Members” tab on our homepage, after you have logged in. If you need help logging in, please contact tech-support@chattanoogawritersguild.org.