It has been five years since Professor Billy Middleton began the College of Arts and Letters (CAL) Creative Writing Contest in the spring semester of 2013. Since then, hundreds of students have submitted prose — fiction, or creative nonfiction — and poetry for this competition, revealing the creativity among students from all departments and programs at Stevens.
The rules for this contest are simple: students may submit for the prose competition, limited to one 1,500 word submission; submit for the poetry competition, limited to three poems; or submit for both competitions. There’s no theme or prompt for the contest, so students are allowed to explore any topic they desire.
The idea for this competition began back in 2011 when Middleton, one of the founding faculty of the Freshman Experience program at Stevens, noticed that some students were unsatisfied with the available resources for them to express themselves. “I encountered a number of very talented young writers in my classes who were frustrated that there weren’t enough outlets for them to hone their literary craft,” Middleton said in an email. “I started the Annual Creative Writing Contest in 2013 as part of a larger initiative to give these students opportunities to practice and improve their writing.” In addition to this contest, Middleton revived the Creative Writing course and started “a salon series” at Stevens, which allows students not enrolled in the Creative Writing course to receive feedback on their writing.
Middleton, when he began this contest, didn’t know if it could sustain interest at a school like Stevens. “I’ll admit I was nervous when I started the contest at an engineering school that there wouldn’t be enough maintained student interest to keep it going year to year,” said Middleton. “Thus, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many students continue to submit each year and how passionate they are about their work.”
Students seem to have enjoyed the Annual Writing Contest, particularly because Middleton receives approximately 50 student entries per year, with the number of participating students gradually increasing with each contest. Middleton expects that the number of submissions for this year’s contest may exceed that of all previous years. This prediction is largely due to the recent recognition of organizations on campus like RedShift and “[the] Poetry Club, … as well as the continuing popularity of the salons and Creative Writing class.”
Students, though, do not have to participate in these student organizations, the salons, or the creative writing class to participate in the competition. All entries are judged blindly by CAL faculty, so each student is given an equal opportunity, regardless of their affiliation with organizations like Poetry Club. Also, because of the blind judging, some students in previous years have won in both prose and poetry categories. In 2016, for example, Gabriella Green placed first in the prose competition and third in the poetry competition.
Winners of the contest, along with the runner-ups and honorable mentions, are invited by CAL to present their work at the annual CAL Innovation Expo. The quality of the work, even among those who don’t win, is something that Middleton has admired and enjoyed over the years. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of truly talented writers over the past few years, many of whom I came into contact with through the contest,” said Middleton. “I hope it continues to be an outlet to identify young talent and help them hone their craft.”
Students interested in participating in the Sixth Annual Creative Writing Contest must send their submission to Middleton by Friday, March 23, 2018, and if they have questions about the competition, they can contact Middleton before that date.
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