During the academic year, the English and Communications department likes to recognize students’ success at Blackburn with different award opportunities. One of these being the Louise Allen Creative Writing Award. It is a contest for original and unpublished work. Many creative writing students enter the contest, but is open and encouraged to any students, no matter the class or major.
There are five different categories to enter pieces into: drama, personal essay, memoir, poetry or short story. Each category has a limit entry of five pieces of work, so theoretically you could have 25 opportunities in total to win the Louise Allen award. According to Dr. Ren Draya, an English and Communications professor, there could be up to twelve winners over all. A first, second, and third place winner for each category unless the judges decide that there is on only a first place for a certain category. The winners and their placement is up the judges.
All work that is submitted has to be emailed to ENCO@Blackburn.edu and needs to have a cover page. The work is submitted without any identifying information, so the entries are completely anonymous to the judges, none of which are any of the English and Communications professors. Cash prizes are awarded, usually between twenty-five and one hundred dollars. The amount fluctuates depending on the department budget. The winners will also get their work published in Vortex, Blackburn’s literary magazine where many people choose to enter their creative works.
The deadline is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 22. If there are any questions and concerns, feel free to go to Hudson 305 and talk to Dr. Crummey. Dr. Draya or Dr. Dillon.