Annual Vermont Writers’ Prize seeks submissions

COLCHESTER

Entries are now being accepted for the Vermont Writers’ Prize, an annual competition sponsored by Green Mountain Power and Vermont Magazine that provides an opportunity for Vermont writers to showcase their talent.

“This is a wonderful contest that highlights Vermont talent and why we all love Vermont,” said Dorothy Schnure, spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power. “GMP is committed to supporting communities, and the goal of the Vermont Writers’ Prize is to inspire everyone to build a better state.”

The Vermont Writers’ Prize, created in honor of Ralph Nading Hill Jr., is considered by Vermont writers to be one of the state’s premier literary prizes. Hill, a Vermont historian and writer who published numerous books and magazine articles on the subject of Vermont, was a long-time member of Green Mountain Power’s Board of Directors.

The contest is open to all Vermont residents, including seasonal residents and students enrolled in Vermont colleges. Entrants may be amateur or professional writers. The most recent winner was “An Empire at Twilight,” by Michael Nethercott of Guilford.

Phil Jordan, editor and publisher of Vermont Magazine, said that Nethercott’s story grabbed the judges with its crisp and authentic writing. “The story had a wonderful sense of time and place, capturing the essence of Vermont in a way that Vermonters and also people who live outside our state can all relate to. I look forward to reading the many wonderful submissions to this year’s Vermont Writers’ Prize competition.”

The deadline for this year’s Vermont Writers’ Prize is Nov. 1, 2014.

Send entries to:

Vermont Writers’ Prize
c/o Green Mountain Power
163 Acorn Lane
Colchester, VT  05446

Submissions need to be essays, short stories or poems on the theme of “Vermont — Its People, the Place, Its History or Its Values.” Entries must be unpublished and less than 1,500 words long.

More detailed submission instructions are available at www.greenmountainpower.com and at www.Vermontmagazine.com

The winning entry will be selected by an independent panel of judges, and will be published in a special section of the March/April 2015 edition of Vermont Magazine. The author will receive a cash prize of $1,500.

Employees and subcontractors of Vermont Magazine or Green Mountain Power and previous winners are ineligible.