Youth New Works Competition

As part of the Hugo Literary Series, Richard Hugo House seeks poems, short stories or personal essays of no more than 1000 words. The theme is Gods and Monsters, and the winner will receive $100 and an invitation to read at the third Hugo Literary Series event at Richard Hugo House alongside poets Linda Bierds and Terrance Hayes, novelist Garth Stein and the music of BloodHag.

The theme: All manuscripts must reflect the theme, Gods and Monsters, using the prompt below as a jumping-off point:

From the crucifixes hanging above our beds to the Bogeymen hiding under them, gods and monsters have always occupied considerable real estate in the human psyche. But sometimes a mattress and box spring are all that separate the two. Gods of all faiths have dispatched locusts, hail and frogs, induced famines and instituted curses. And who was really the monster in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"--the poor, misunderstood creature whose hideous exterior masked a very human heart, or the man who usurped God's role by creating him? Today the line dividing the godly from the grotesque is blurrier than ever as technology hands us godlike powers--cloning! Bio-engineering! Artificial Intelligence!--opening possibilities that Mary Shelley couldn't have imagined. But just because we can do something doesn't mean we should--what happens when, as Joseph Conrad described it, our "inner evil" equals our "outer good"?

Entry restrictions: The Youth New Works Competition is open only to students enrolled in grades 9-12. To be eligible to win, you must be able to attend the Literary Series event at Richard Hugo House on February 19, 2010.

Submission format: Typed, double-spaced, pages numbered, in 12-point standard font, no staples. On top right of every page include name, address, phone, e-mail, grade and school.

Submissions are due by January 11, 2010, to youth@hugohouse.org or by post to: Youth New Works Competition, Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122.