The New Elizabeth Bishop Prizes
Offering $45,000 in Scholarships
Writing & Publishing at Walnut Hill aims to celebrate the freshest, most accomplished examples of imaginative literary craft by young writers. As part of this mission, The Blue Pencil Online announces the new Elizabeth Bishop Prizes in Verse, Fiction, and Playwriting, offering $45,000 in scholarships.
First, A Little History …
While a student at Walnut Hill from 1927 to 1930, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Elizabeth Bishop contributed poems, short fiction, plays, and book reviews to The Blue Pencil, and she served as editor of the magazine during her senior year. In recognition of Bishop’s contributions to the school and to literary history, the Writing & Publishing program has since 2004 invited young writers around the world to submit verse and fiction to the Elizabeth Bishop Prizes. From more than 1500 submissions—some composed as near as Natick, others as far away as Abu Dhabi—the students of the department, who have constituted the panel of judges for the competition, have selected ten winners.
What’s New?
Now, following the launch last winter of The Blue Pencil Online, the students of Writing & Publishing welcome the opportunity to consider for The Bishop Prizes every piece of verse, fiction, and playwriting submitted to the magazine. In February the editors will select the best work in each genre that they have accepted for publication since the beginning of the school year. Each Bishop Prize–winner will be awarded a $15,000 scholarship to the Writing & Publishing Program at Walnut Hill.* The Elizabeth Bishop Prize scholarships are contingent upon winners’ application to and acceptance by Walnut Hill’s Admission Committee. Each winner will also receive a copy of Elizabeth Bishop’s Poems, Prose, and Letters, published by The Library of America, a steadfast supporter of the Prizes, and an invitation to read his or her work at our annual spring celebration of the print edition of The Blue Pencil. Prize-winning works will be published on The Blue Pencil Online as soon as they are ready to go to press.
*Walnut Hill reserves the right not to award a Prize in any category.
Eligibility
Any piece of fiction, verse, or playwriting that (1) has been written by a student who does not attend Walnut Hill and who is an 8th-, 9th-, 10th-, or 11th-grader in the fall of 2009, and (2) has been properly submitted to The Blue Pencil Online—via the TBPO submission manager—between October 1, 2009, and February 1, 2010 (2:00 p.m., EST), will be considered for the Prizes.
.
A work does not have to have been published in the magazine to be considered. A writer may win in only one category. No past winners of The Bishop Prizes are eligible. Winners will be announced on The Blue Pencil Online and on the Walnut Hill website on March 1, 2010.
.
The Editors strongly encourage writers interested in submitting work to acquaint themselves with pieces that have been published both online and in recent issues of The Blue Pencil, and to read the Editors’ Roundtable from the 2008 Bishop Prizes.
The 2011 Bishop Prizes
As soon as the deadline for entries to the 2010 Bishop Prizes passes, the editors will begin accepting entries for the 2011 Bishop prizes, the submission period for which will run from February 1, 2010 (2:01 p.m. EST), to February 1, 2011 (2:00 p.m. EST). The submission manager will remain open to all submissions until May 1, 2010, when it will close to allow the editors time to review submitted work before the end of the school year. The manager will reopen on October 1, 2010. Eligibility requirements as provided above will apply, with the following adjustment: only writers in 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th grade (or the equivalent) in the fall of 2010 will be eligible.
The editors will always welcome submissions to the magazine from writers in the 12th grade; however, these works cannot be considered for The Bishop Prizes.
Questions about the Prizes should be directed to Allan Reeder, Head of Publications, at areeder@walnuthillarts.org.