Elizabeth Boatwright Coker
Student Prize in Short Fiction
Deadline: March 20, 2025
Deadline: March 20, 2025
The Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Student Prize in Short Fiction, supported by the Penelope Coker Hall/Eliza Wilson Ingle Fund of Central Carolina Community Foundation and sponsored by the South Carolina Academy of Authors, recognizes the talent of college student fiction writers in the state of South Carolina.
The award is $250 and an invitation to be honored at a future SCAA event. There is no restriction on content, but submissions may not exceed 15 pages double-spaced and must be either one original, unpublished short story or one excerpt from a longer, unpublished work. You may submit multiple entries. Entry is free. We will accept entries in doc, docx, rtf, and pdf file formats. Applicants must be 18-25 years old at the time of submission and enrolled full time as an undergraduate at a private or public South Carolina institution of higher education. In a change to the contest from previous years, applicants may now have an out-of-state permanent address, but they must be currently living full time in South Carolina while attending a South Carolina institution of higher learning (applicants will be required to list a South Carolina student address). Applicants also must not have won this prize in the previous three years. Your name should not appear anywhere on the pages submitted. Include contact information in the appropriate fields along with a brief bio in the cover letter field on the submission manager. Be sure to click on the correct SC Academy of Authors submission link. This year’s final judge will be John Dufresne. Questions about the Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Student Prize in Short Fiction should be sent to: [email protected]. |
John Dufresne is the author of six novels: Louisiana Power & Light, Love Warps the Mind a Little, (both New York Times Notable Books of the Year) Deep in the Shade of Paradise, Requiem, Mass., No Regrets, Coyote, and I Don't Like Where This Is Going. He also wrote two short story collections: The Way That Water Enters Stone and Johnny Too Bad, as well as three chapbooks: Lethe, Cupid, Time and Love; Well Enough Alone; and I Will Eat a Piece of the Roof and You Can Eat the Window. He has two books on writing and creativity: The Lie That Tells a Truth: a Guide to Writing Fiction and Is Life Like This?: a Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months.
John was one of the thirteen authors of the mystery novel, Naked Came the Manatee. His short story “The Timing of Unfelt Smiles” was included in Miami Noir and in Best American Mystery Stories 2007. Another short story, “The Cross-Eyed Bear,” was included in Boston Noir and Best American Mystery Stories 2010. John wrote a full-length play, Trailerville, which was produced at the Blue Heron Theatre in New York in 2005.He also wrote the screenplay for the award-winning short film The Freezer Jesus. He co-wrote the screenplay for To Live and Die in Dixie with Don Papy. John was a 2012-13 Guggenheim Fellow and teaches in the MFA program at Florida International University in Miami. |