“Shenandoah” Calls for Submissions for 2014 Bevel Summers Prize
“Shenandoah, the Washington and Lee University Review,” will be accepting entries of short short stories for the annual Bevel Summers Prize from until March 31. This year’s judge will writer and “Shenandoah” contributor Nick Ripatrazone. No friends, relatives or students of Ripatrazone’s will be eligible this year.
Up to three previously unpublished entries of less than 1,000 words each may be submitted either via postal mail or through the submissions site accessed through “Shenandoah’s” website (https://shenandoah.submittable.com/submit). Anyone with questions about submissions should email shenandoah@wlu.edu.
The prize category will be accessible through this same submissions link on March 10. The winner of the contest will receive $1,000 and will be featured prominently in the next online issue. All finalists for the prize are eligible to be published in “Shenandoah.”
The prize is named for the fictional evangelist Bevel Summers and the also fictional impressionable young boy who adopts his name in “The River” by Flannery O’Connor, the acclaimed writer of short stories.
When the prize began in 2011, there were over 200 entries and in 2012, over 400. The 2011 winner was Marsha McSpadden, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., for her piece “Facsimile in Boots,” and the 2012 winner was Jim McDermott of the Washington, D.C., area for “The Pointer.” Last year’s winner was Seth Brady Tucker of Lafayette, Colo., for his narrative “Jigsaw.”
The 2014 prize winner will be announced on the “Shenandoah” and the Washington and Lee websites as well as in other news media in June.
Postal mail should be addressed to: “Shenandoah,” 17 Courthouse Square, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450.
