English professor Dr. Susan McLean is the organizer of the Telling Women’s Stories contest. This is the seventh year that it has been going on.

“The Women’s Studies Committee is sponsoring a writing contest open to all SMSU students—those who take classes on campus or online—for stories, essays, plays or poems that focus on women and their experiences,” McLean said. “The author may be male or female, but all of the stories, essays, plays or poems must focus primarily on women or female characters.”

Each entry may not exceed 10 pages in length. Entries must be typed and either double-spaced for prose or single-spaced for poems in 12-point type and pages must be numbered. There may not be more than one ten-page entry per author.

“The author’s name should appear on the cover page, which actually doesn’t count as part of the ten pages and which will be removed before the entries are judged by members of the Women’s Study Committee,” McLean said. “The top three winners will receive gift certificates worth $75 for the first prize, $50 for the second prize, and $25 for the third prize. All three winners will also get a certificate acknowledging their award and will give a reading of their winning entry for Women’s History Month in March 2016 at a time that will be determined later.”

One can submit their essays, poems, plays, and/or short stories to LeeAnn Teig in the English department in BA 221.

One should identify them as entries for the Telling Women’s Stories Contest and include their name, street address, phone number, and e-mail address, as well as a list of the titles or the first lines of each piece submitted. The author’s name should not appear anywhere else on the entry.

The deadline for submitting the entries is Friday, Oct. 30 at 4:30 p.m. Any questions should be directed to Professor Susan McLean by phone or e-mail.