[These rules and guidelines (unchanged from 2024) can also be downloaded as a PDF here.]

The Carolina Prize for Writing contest is sponsored annually by the Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild. This year, three prizes will be awarded: one for prose, one for poetry, and one for cover art. Up to five honorable mentions may also be named for each.

(Past winners listed at the bottom of this page.)

Winning entries will receive:

• $100.00

• Publication in the next issue of County Lines: A Literary Journal
  (The winning artwork will be featured as the cover for the issue.)

• Two copies of the journal

Honorable mentions will receive:

• Publication in the next issue of County Lines: A Literary Journal

• One copy of the journal

General Restrictions

• Entrants can be of any age or from any location worldwide.

• Work must be original and previously unpublished (including online publication).

• Work may not contain erotica, violence, hate, political editorial, or excessive profanity.

How to Enter Your Work

one entry = an email w/ attached cover sheet and attached work(s)
(limited to one category: prose, poetry, or art)

Step 1. Email Your Entry

• Email your entry to CPWG.CarolinaPrize@gmail.com
  An entry is a single email with an attached cover sheet and your attached works (each a separate document or image, see below)

• Be sure your subject line reads Carolina Prize Entry

• Multiple entries (via separate emails) are permitted.

• Attach your work(s) (see detail below) to the email as a .docx or .doc file(s) (prose or poetry) or a .jpg file(s) (art).
  ANONYMIZE YOUR WORK(S).  The contest is reviewed blindly by third-party judges (see below):

  • • Strip any author-, poet-, or artist-identifying information from the work itself.

    • Remove any identifying information from image or document filenames.

• Attach a cover sheet (separately) to the email as a .docx or .doc containing the following:

• • Your name and the name under which you prefer to be published, if applicable

  • Your mailing address, email address, and phone number

  • The title or titles of your works

  • A bio of no more than 70 words written in the third-person point of view

Detail: The Attached Work(s)

Prose entries may contain only 1 work of prose of no more than 3,000 words (excluding title).

Poetry entries may contain up to 3 poems of no more than 30 lines each (excluding title and stanza-separating empty lines). Attach each poem to the email as a separate .docx or .doc document.   Restated: up to 3 poems, each no longer than 30 lines, each attached as a separate document, to 1 submission email.

Art entries may contain up to 3 separate .jpg images.

Formatting the content of your work …

• WRITTEN WORKS: Author William Shunn provides an excellent resource that demonstrates standard manuscript formatting: prose and poetry. (Though, remember to leave out the identifying information.)

• ARTWORK: portrait orientation and high-quality images are best.

Step 2. Send Your Entry Fee

• • $10.00 per entry (multiple entries permitted via multiple emails and $10 per entry)

• • Payment due by the entry deadline. Two methods:

    • Paypal: send $10 to @CPWritersGuild
      (please choose "Friends and Family")
      … or …

    • Snail mail: send a $10 check to …
      Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild
      PO Box 31, Kittrell, NC 27544

Rights

The Carolina Prize is an independently judged competition (see below). Winners and honorable mentions will be published in County Lines. Non-winning works will NOT automatically be included in the next issue of County Lines. If your entered work does not win or receive an honorable mention, please submit it during our general, non-contest, open submissions reading window for County Lines when it opens in mid-March.

By entering a work for consideration, you implicitly grant first publication rights to the Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild in the event the work is accepted for inclusion. All proceeds from the Carolina Prize contest help fund the Carolina Piedmont Writers Guild’s efforts to promote and support the activities and endeavors of the Guild.

The Judging Process

1. Your entry is vetted by one staff member to ensure (a) the work is in a reasonable format, (b) stripped of identifying information, (c) meets our guidelines for what may be restricted. All of that is described above.
   NOTICE OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: that one staff member may also submit to the contest as a competitor. That one staff member for 2025 is Jackie Dove-Miller.

2. Your entry submission fee is tracked by the treasurer, who works with the vetting staff member to ensure all entries are accounted for appropriately.
   NOTICE OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: the treasurer for 2025 is Todd Warner. He too may also submit to the contest as a competitor.

3. All entries are collected together after the contest entry window has closed and sent to the applicable judge.

4. The judge chooses a winner and up to three honorable mentions.

5. All contestants are informed of the results. Honorable mentions are automatically approved for publication to the journal if they so choose. All other entries are declined, but encouraged to submit to the open submissions window.

Prose

Laura Rader

Laura Rader minored in history and studied creative writing and literature at San Diego State University. She then drew on those passions during her thirty-year career as a history and English teacher. Now retired and living near Raleigh, she writes historical fiction full-time. Her first novel, Hatfield 1677, was released in 2024, and she is planning at least one sequel. When not writing, she enjoys researching genealogy, attending book club meetings, taking forest walks with her Rough Collie, and visiting family in Brooklyn. She believes that fiction is important because it allows both author and reader to walk in someone else’s shoes. More information about Laura and her work can be found at lcrwriter.com.