FAULKNER-WISDOM COMPETITION!
A competitive talent search open to all writing in English; the William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition is for previously unpublished work. Entries are accepted in seven categories: Novel, Novella, Novel-in-Progress, Short Story, Essay, Poetry, and Short Story by a High School Student. Overall goals of the competition are to seek out new, talented writers and assist them in finding literary agents and, ultimately, publishers for their work.
The 2010 competition's opening date is January 31, 2010. The deadline has been extended to May 15.
For 2010 guidelines, CLICK HERE! For an entry form for the 2010 competition, CLICK HERE!
Continue to watch this web site for the winners of each category 2010, to be announced on September 25, William Faulkner's birthday...Competition judges include: CLICK HERE.
2010 winners will be formally presented at the annual meeting of the Faulkner Society in Noveber during Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans. Their work will be published in a special on-line editition of The Double Dealer.
Important! Please Note: We have made important changes in the guidelines for 2010. Please do not mail your entries without reviewing the guidelines. Note especially changes entry submission rules.
2009 Winners of the Faulkner - Wisdom Creative
Writing Competition
The Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society presented its 2009 competition winners at the 20th annual meeting of the Society preceding the gala celebration Faulkner for All during Words & Music on November 21, 2009. The winners are their judges are:
Novel:
Greg Bascom of Miami and Costa Rica for:
Lawless Elements,
Selected by:
New York literary agent Brandi Bowles.
Prize Donor:
Bertie Deming Smith
Novella:
Diane Daniels Manning of Houston for:
Yellow Shotgun on Demeter,
Selected by: poet and fiction writer
James Nolan.
Prize Donors: Rosemary James
in Memory of author and
Fitzgerald and Hemingway scholar,
Matthew
Bruccoli.
Novel-in-Progress
Jane Stubbs of New Orleans for:
My Maiden Voyage,
Selected by: agent and Words & Music Editors and Agents chair Michael Murphy. Prize Donor: Judith "Jude" Swenson in memory of her husband the late James Swenson
Short Story
Julie Chagi of Scotts Valley, CA, for:
The Camel,
Selected by fiction writer Barb Johnson.
Prize Donor: Joseph J. DeSalvo, Faulkner House Books
Essay
Jessica Deckard of New Orleans for:
Spontaneous Ingenue Seeks Mute Pirate,
Selected by humorist/non-fiction author
Roy Blount, Jr.
Poetry
Rosemary Daniell of Savannah, GA for:
Sacred Things,
Selected by: Poet/Non-Fiction author
Rodger Kamenetz
Short Story by a High School Student
Elizabeth Lilly of Lusher Charter High School, New Orleans, LA,
Sponsoring Teacher
Brad Richard, for:
Maternal Instincts,
Selected by:
Poet/Playwright/Fiction Writer John Biguenet
Prize Donors:
Mr. and Mrs. Hartwig Moss, III
in memory of his mother, the late New Orleans architect and preservationist Betty Moss.
For more information on the 2009 winners and judges, as well as lists of finalists and semi-finalists for 2009, Click Here. For those who placed in 2008, CLICK HERE.
Previous Winners
We're proud of the accomplishments of our previous winners. Click on each year for a full list of the winners and runners-up making literary history in each category! Click here for 2008 winners.2007 Winners | 2006 Winners | 2005 Winners | 2004 Winners | 2003 Winners |
About the Competition
William Faulkner
and
William B. Wisdom
The Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, Inc. founded the William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition in 1992. In 2004, the name of the Society's national literary talent search was changed to the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. This important name change was made in grateful appreciation to The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation and its trustees: Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin, Helen Hauser Wisdom, Mary E. "Betty" Wisdom, Edward Wisdom Benjamin, Stuart Minor Benjamin, Arthur Mitteer Wisdom, and Matthew Morgan Wisdom. The new name honors their forebear: William B. Wisdom.
It is appropriate that the Faulkner Society be linked with the Wisdom family in this manner. Adelaide Benjamin and her sister Betty were among the first patrons of the Society. Adelaide was an early Chair of the Executive Board, and among the first to recognize the value of a national literary competition operated out of New Orleans, knowing, of course, that if such a venture were successful, it could only enhancethe image of the city as an important intellectual and cultural destination.
Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin
Mrs. Benjamin presented the first cash prize for a novel to a previously unrecognized literary talent, Stewart O'Nan, who has since published nine books of fiction. O'Nan regularly participates in the Society's annual writers' conference, Words & Music. Stewart has not failed, given the opportunity, to praise the Society, the Wisdom family, and New Orleans for having faith in him. Since then, the Wisdom family and the Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation have been regular underwriters, with Adelaide creating the Marble Faun Prize for Poetry as a 100th birthday present for Mr. Faulkner in 1997.
Linking the two Williams is especially appropriate, as they were united by correspondence during their lifetimes William Faulkner was a writer of phenomenal talent and range, who became the best known American writer of the 20th century, capturing the Nobel Prize for Literature for his enormous body of work. William B. Wisdom was truly a renaissance man, playing a substantial role in every cultural undertaking of his community in his time. We celebrate, here, William Wisdom, the collector of books and manuscripts, and his special devotion to Faulkner's work and memorabilia.
The Wisdom Collection is now part of the permanent collection of Tulane University's library. Informed by his good taste and instructed by his keen intelligence, he became a bibliophile nonpareil, recognizing the genius of Thomas Wolfe and William Faulkner early in their careers. Both collections are among the finest ever assembled. The Faulkner work, particularly the New Orleans material, has been the delight of Faulkner scholars including the preeminent Carvel Collins and Joseph Blotner.
| Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society 624 Pirate’s Alley, New Orleans, LA 70116 phone: (504) 586-1609 or (504) 525-5615 fax: (504) 522-9725 info@wordsandmusic.org |
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