New Works Competition

Richard Hugo House is accepting submissions of previously unpublished poems, short stories, and personal essays. All manuscripts must reflect the theme You Are Here and be no more than 1,500 words. Use the prompt below as a point of departure. The winner will receive $500 and an invitation to read at the final Hugo Literary Series event on March 1, 2012 alongside authors Chris Abani, Cheryl Strayed, and Jonathan Evison. All entries must be received by January 18, 2013. (Because of our error in implementing our new partner submission system, Submittable, we have extended the deadline to accommodate those that might have been unable to submit before the deadline. Thanks to those who have already submitted. We look forward to reading your work.)

 Prompt At the mall, on the train or in the forest, maps tell us where we are and help us find where we’re going, from the Orange Julius in the food court to the Uptown Express train. But maps are more than a reminder of where we are at any given moment—they shape our understanding of the world around us and our place in it, arranging the Earth by borders, coastlines and coordinates, parts well beyond the street corners of childhood that our parents wouldn’t let us bike past. The history of each geographical feature tells a story, real or imagined, fulfilling the deep human impulse to define ourselves in relation to everything else. What do our personal geographies say about us and how we make sense of the worlds we live in? And when those maps change, do we, too, or vice versa?

Manuscript Requirements Do not include name and contact information anywhere within the document. Submissions should be typed in 12-point standard font and have numbered pages. Prose should be double-spaced. 

Submitting Sumbit electronically through Submittable. In the prompted space, include a coverpage with the following information: genre and title/titles of your work, name, address, phone number, and e-mail address.

Entry fee: $10 payable on our submissions website

Entry Restrictions The New Works Competition is only open to residents of Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, or Montana

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