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Edit Wharton Writing Competition

Berkshire High School Students Eligible

By: - Jan 04, 2011

The Mount, the historic estate of Edith Wharton, has announced a call for entries for the 2011 Edith Wharton Writing Competition. High school students in Berkshire County and surrounding areas are invited to participate in the annual contest, which was created by The Mount to honor Wharton’s remarkable achievements as well as to support and recognize emerging young writers in her beloved Berkshire region.

The competition, which includes fiction and poetry categories, opens immediately. All entries must be postmarked by March 4, 2011. The winners will be announced by April 1, 2011.  For competition guidelines and entry requirements, please visit The Mount’s website, www.EdithWharton.org.

In 2010, the long-awaited re-launch of the writing competition drew over 80 entries from 11th and 12th-grade students across the region. This year, The Mount hopes to entice even more local students to participate by introducing to the contest a new 9th and 10th-grade division.

All contestants and their teachers and families will be invited to attend an awards ceremony and reception at The Mount in April. Contestants will compete for cash prizes and the opportunity for their work to be published on The Mount’s website, EdithWharton.org

The entries will be judged by professors at Williams College and Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

Edith Wharton’s nearly half-century-long career as a professional writer began when she was in her teens; her poems appeared in the auspicious Atlantic Monthly magazine in 1880.  The Edith Wharton Writing Competition not only commemorates Wharton’s achievements, from her beginnings as a budding young poet to her lasting legacy as a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, but also inspires future generations of young writers to follow in her literary footsteps