Barrett Creative Writing Contest submissions due March 1

Graphic of a fist holding a pencil with light blue lightning and a dark blue background.

The namesake of Frances G. Barrett, the HFC English Department's first department chairperson, the Frances G. Barrett Creative Writing Contest and the Larry Colter Poetry Prize offers $700 in prizes. This contest is open to all students at HFC. Turn in your submissions by Friday, March 1.

For all HFC students who aspire to be the next Steven Spielberg, John Grisham, David Mamet, or Alice Walker be sure to enter HFC’s annual Francis G. Barrett Creative Writing Contest and the Larry Colter Poetry Prize. All submissions are due by Friday, March 1.

This contest is open to works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama. All students who are enrolled at HFC are eligible to enter. A total of $700 will be divided among the Top 5 winners. This contest is held annually at the College to honor the memory of the English Department's first department chairperson, Frances G. Barrett.

Guidelines

Submissions should be sent to michave@hfcc.edu as an electronic attachment, preferably a Microsoft Word document. We also strongly recommend that you use your HFC Hawkmail email address to ensure that we receive your submission(s). You may submit 1-4 pieces of writing, which may vary in genre.

All attached submission(s) should be accompanied by a cover letter within the email containing the following information:

Name
HFC Student ID
Title(s) of the work(s) submitted
Your major and the number of years you have been attending HFC
Contact information (include email address, phone number, and home address)
A brief paragraph of biographical information: Tell us about yourself. For example, tell us about your hobbies, where you work, your family, your past publications, etc. Also, include several sentences about what inspired your piece of writing.
Please include the Release Form for Artwork and Creative Writing with your submission(s).

Submissions

Fiction, non-fiction, and drama submissions should be free of grammatical errors. Ideally, the submissions should not exceed more than five (5) pages in length. Longer submissions may be considered, but they will be published only if they are exceptional (excerpts from novels or novellas are welcome).

Submissions must be double-spaced and typed.
Page numbers should be clearly marked.
Identifying information (your name, email address, etc.) should NOT be included on the submissions themselves.

Poetry submissions should be free of grammatical errors. The highest-placing poetry manuscript in the Barrett Contest will also be awarded the Colter Poetry Prize.

Poems should be single-spaced and typed.
The title should be clearly marked for each poem.
Identifying information (name, email address, etc.) should NOT be included on the submissions themselves.

Notification

Winners will be notified by Friday, April 5. They will be honored on Thursday, April 18, from 12:40 to 2:00 p.m. in the Adray Auditorium (F-100) in the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center (Building F on the main campus).

“Since I came to HFC in 2021, the award ceremony for the Barrett and Colter prizes has been my favorite end-of-the-semester event. It's kind of a rock star moment for everyone involved. Faculty, family, and friends are super proud, and students get to really show off their talents,” said HFC English instructor Dr. Sommer Sterud.

For questions or more information, contact michave@hfcc.edu.