UPDATE: Contest Deadline Extended to February 29, 2008.

NOTE: A classified listing in the most recent issue of The Writers Chronicle lists Third Coast as currently accepting submissions for a Fiction and NonFiction contest. However, at this time we are only reading contest submissions for Poetry and NonFiction awards.
Please see the guidelines below.

The 2008 Third Coast Poetry & Creative NonFiction Awards

Poetry Prize: $1,000 & Publication
Nonfiction Prize : $500 & Publication

Final Judges
For poetry: James Tate
For creative nonfiction: Patricia Hampl

Send entries to:
Third Coast 2008 Poetry or Creative Nonfiction Contest
Department of English
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5331

Open to all writers unassociated with the judges or Third Coast. Postmark deadline: February 29th, 2008. Prize-winning issue: Spring 2009. Entry fee: $15 per manuscript. Please make checks or money orders payable to Third Coast. Each fee entitles entrant to a 1-year subscription to Third Coast, an extension of an existing subscription, or a gift subscription. Please indicate your choice and enclose a complete address for subscription. Please send each entry separately, and mark clearly whether it is a poetry or creative nonfiction entry. Any previously unpublished poem is eligible for the poetry contest. Please submit up to five poems, totaling no more than twelve pages. Any previously unpublished creative nonfiction essay or excerpt of up to 9,000 words is eligible for the creative nonfiction contest. Simultaneous submissions are permitted; if accepted elsewhere, we ask that they be withdrawn from the contest immediately. No money will be refunded. Submissions will not be returned; send SASE for results only. All manuscripts should be typed (nonfiction entries should be double-spaced) and accompanied by a cover letter. The author’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself. If a poem or essay is chosen as a finalist, Third Coast requires that it be withdrawn from any other publication considerations until the winner is selected. If the poem or essay is scheduled to be published elsewhere before spring 2009, please do not submit it.