The Meringoff Writing Awards have deadlines of January 15th, with the exception of the high school award, which has May 15th deadline. Everyone who enters the Meringoff Writing Awards competition must be a member of the ALSCW or sponsored by a member, with the exception of the high school award, which is open to any high school student. Membership information is available on the ALSCW website (alscw.org).
Meringoff Writing Awards (January 15th deadline)
The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers announces three awards of $3,500 each in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Only one entry is accepted from each person. All entries must be previously unpublished. The winning entries will be published in either Literary Imagination or Literary Matters. All entries must be postmarked no later than January 15th, 2020. The winners will be announced early in 2020. Members will be invited to read their work at the 2020 annual conference at Yale University, October 22-25.
There is no entry fee for current members of The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers. Members will receive the annual three issues of our literary journal/magazine Literary Imagination, and our online journal, Literary Matters.
For the Meringoff Poetry Award, each entry can be one poem, or a group of poems that add up to no more than 150 lines.
For the Meringoff Fiction Award, each entry should be one story, or a chapter of a longer work of no more than 25 pages double spaced.
For the Meringoff Nonfiction Award, each entry should be one nonfiction piece, or a chapter of a longer work of no more than 25 pages double spaced.
All entries will be judged anonymously. Please include THREE COPIES of your entry with your name, email address, postal address, and phone number ON ONLY ONE OF THEM. All submissions should be postmarked no later than January 15th, 2020, and mailed to:
ALSCW Meringoff Writing Awards
Marist Annex
The Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Ave. NE
Washington, DC 20064
Meringoff High School Essay Prize (May 15th deadline)
The ALSCW works to foster and recognize excellence in the critically important area of student writing of analytical essays at the secondary school level. We invite submissions of analytical essays by students in grades 9 through 12 dealing with works of recognized literary merit. Papers may examine style, characterization, rhetorical technique, and structure, and may be about individual poems, short stories, novels, plays, or essays. Papers may also compare two carefully selected works.
The judges value lucid and lively expression, conceptual maturity, and argumentation that is developed from compelling and careful attention to specific passages. They do not seek term/research papers, but hope to receive carefully crafted interpretive and analytical essays of 1500 to 2500 words. Essays written in fulfillment of school assignments are welcome.
The winning essay will be published in Literary Matters, the online literary journal of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers, and the winning contestant will receive an award of $3,500. Entries must be postmarked no later than May 15, 2020. Three copies of each entry (only one with the student’s name on it) must be sent with the contest registration to:
ALSCW Meringoff High School Awards
Marist Annex
The Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Ave. NE
Washington, DC 20064