Judges Announced for West Virginia Writing Competition.

West Virginia Writers, Inc. (WVW) has announced its' roster of judges for the 2010 Annual Writing Competition. This year the contest will be offering a total of $6,000 in cash prizes, in 12 writing categories. Once again, to judge the entries, WVW has enlisted the expertise of distinguished authors from around the country.

All judges asked to serve reside outside of West Virginia, but many have strong Appalachian ties. According to WVW President Terry McNemar, “By using judges from outside the state we assure the integrity of the evaluations, and by securing new judges each year, we broaden the range of expertise available to our organization, our members, and our contestants. This should also encourage entrants to re-enter pieces that didn't win in previous years, as new judges will be on board for all categories in 2010.”

Contest Administrator Steve Goff adds, “This year we have judges from Oregon, North Carolina, Montana, Iowa, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. All of our judges are well respected and successful in their fields. We also go to great lengths to assure we have people who are well versed in the categories we've asked them to judge.” (For a full of roster of contest categories and judges, see below.)

Since its' inception in 1982 the WVW Writing Competition has awarded over $110,000 in prize money, and it is the largest writing contest in the state of West Virginia. Three cash prizes, ranging from $250, and at least three Honorable Mentions will be handed out in 12 different categories.

Entries will be accepted in the following categories: Short Story; Scripts; Non-Fiction; Children's Books; Humor; Appalachian Writing; Long and Short Poetry; and Book Length Prose. This year there will also be a category for Inspirational writing. There are also two categories for new writers, Emerging Writers Poetry and Prose.

The WVW Writing Competition is open to all WV state residents. Writers who live outside the state must become members of WVW to enter.

The contest is now open and the first deadline for entries is March 15, 2010. After that date, there is a late fee of $2 per entry, with the final deadline being March 31, 2010.

For more information about the contest concerning entry fees, contest rules, entry forms, category descriptions and the New Mountain Voices 2010 Student Writing Contest visit our Annual Writing Competition page.

The full roster of judges and the categories they will be judging are as follows:

Inspiration: Debra Landwehr Engle is the author of The Art of Living and Grace From the Garden: Changing the World One Garden At a Time. The latter was favorably reviewed in O magazine. Based in Iowa, Ms. Engle is one of the leading Inspirational writers in America today.

Scripts: Jill Patrick is an Atlanta, GA based playwright and poet. Her play The Prisoner has run as part of the Working Title Playwrights group in that city. She is a member of the Atlanta Writers Group.

Nonfiction: Linda Scott Derosier is the author of Creeker and Songs of Life and Grace. The latter has been awarded the Thomas D. Clark Award for Literary Excellence (Nov. 2003); and was nominated for the Kentucky Literary Award 2004. She currently teaches at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT.

Children's Books: Jennifer Allison is the creator of the “Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator” mystery series for young readers. Her titles include, Gilda Joyce and the Ladies of the Lake. She is based in Kensington, MD.

Humor: Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant is an award winning humor columnist; motivational speaker and stand-up comedienne. In 2003 she won the Erma Bombeck Award for Humor Writing. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Family Circle, and Good Housekeeping. She is based in Eugene, OR.

Appalachian Writing: Gretchen Moran Laskas is the author of The Miner's Daughter and The Midwife's Tale. The latter received a starred review from the Library Journal and won awards for Best Appalachian Novel and Outstanding Contribution to Appalachia. Originally from Philippi, WV, she now resides Fairfax, VA.

Book Length Prose: Brad Barkley is the author of Money, Love which was named one of the best books of 2000 by the Washington Post and the Library Journal. He was also named one of the “Breakthrough Writers You Need To Know” by Book Magazine. His other titles include Circle View, a short story collection, and the novel Alison's Automotive Repair Manual. He is currently an Associate Professor of English at Frostburg State University in Maryland.

Long Poetry: Rick Campbell is a Pushcart Prize winner and was awarded an NEA Fellowship in Poetry. His collections of poetry include Dixmont; Setting The World In Order; and The Traveler's Companion. He teaches English at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL.

Short Poetry: Michael Wurster's poetry collections include The Cruelty of the Desert and The Snake Charmer's Daughter. He is a founding member of the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange and teaches at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

Short Story: Tim Poland is the author of the novel The Safety of Deeper Water and a collection of short fiction, Escapee. A Pushcart Prize nominee, he is currently a professor of English at Radford University in Virginia.

Emerging Writers: Poetry: Ed Davis has published the poetry chapbooks Healing Arts; Whispering Leaves; and Haskell. A native of West Virginia, he also authored the novels I Was So Much Older Then and The Measure of Everything. He has taught writing and literature at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio since 1978, where he founded the literary magazine Flights.

Emerging Writers: Prose: Donna Gayle Akers has published short stories and poetry in Appalachian Heritage and Branches. Her work has also appeared in the collections The Zinnia Tales and Self-Rising Flowers. She grew up in Abingdon, VA and is currently based in Deep Gap, NC.