Deadlines for Lifelines

Summer literary contests and residencies are well underway. Here are a few that look especially promising:

The Artist-In-Residence Program at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology grants artists, ecologists, writers, and musicians the opportunity to delve deeply into their work in the unique environment of Cascade Head and the Salmon River estuary along the Oregon coast. Residents are on-site from two weeks to 3-1/2 months, October through mid-May. To apply, submit a resume, three references, 2-10 pages of a manuscript (or a CD of your music or artwork), and an essay on why you need to be there.

The Middlebury Fellowships in Environmental Journalism each year takes 10 journalists near the start of their careers and helps them work through an ambitious reporting project in print, Web-based, or radio journalism, from the beginning through publication or broadcast. Fellows meet together twice during the year, once in the fall on the Middlebury College campus in Vermont, and once in the spring at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, in California. At these meetings professional journalists help participants plan their reporting and shape their stories. Fellows each receive $10,000 to help with reporting and living expenses during the fellowship year. “Environment” is interpreted broadly here: reporting projects dealing with economics, culture, global issues, and the like should center in some way on the human relationship with the physical world. Click here for details; deadline is May 15.

Wag’s Revue, a lit mag that plans to “revolutionize online literature,” is hosting its first-ever contest in poetry (10 page limit), fiction (10,000 word limit), and essay (ditto). First prize receives $1,000 and publication in Wag’s Revue; second prize is $500, third is $100, and all submissions will be considered for publication. The contest deadline is May 31, and winners will be announced June 21. There is no limit to the number of entries an author may submit, but each entry must be accompanied with its own submission fee of $20. Be sure to read Wag’s manifesto first.

Writer’s Digest is offering $3,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to meet with editors and agents for a winning poem, short story, or essay. Three prizes of $1,000 each will also be given for a work in each genre. Submit a poem of up to 32 lines, a story of up to 4,000 words, or an essay of up to 2,000 words by May 14.