The Tempe Public Library as seen in 2009. (Erik Hilburn/The State Press)November happens to be the National Novel Writing Month, which has inspired ASU students and Tempe residents to have a writing contest.
The Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has partnered with the Tempe Public Library to host the first-ever Tempe Community Writing contest.
The contest will be accepting poetry, short fiction and nonfiction submissions between Jan. 15 and Feb.15 from Tempe residents, Tempe library cardholders and all ASU students.
Creative writing sophomore Hunter Schmittou said he is planning on writing a poem and a short fiction to submit into the contest.
“I love when the community does things like this because as a creative writing major, we don’t get many chances to show off our skills,” he said.
He also said even though they won’t be accepting submissions until January, he is still going to start writing his pieces and perfecting them now.
“It wouldn’t hurt to start now and probably every other day write some or do some edits,” he said. “You never know, your best writing idea may pop up randomly.”
Entries will be read anonymously and judged in three categories: high school student, college student and community adult.
Even students who don’t usually write, like film sophomore Christian Mealha, said they are considering writing just a simple poem to try their luck in the competition.
Mealha said as a film major, some of the stories submitted may give him great movie script ideas.
“I wish we could submit movie scripts because I have one of those written,” he said. “But somehow I’ll try and use my script writing abilities and condense it into a poem.”
Communication major Kevin Vitaro said he used to write all the time before he got to college and this competition would give him a chance to see if he still had it.
“My major is communication now, but when I was in high school deciding, it was between communication or English,” he said. “Even though I didn’t take the English route, I still love to read and write occasionally.”
Reach the reporter at William.a.parker@asu.edu
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