Undergraduate writing contest again under way at MSU

Contact: Maridith Geuder

Mississippi State undergraduate students again have the opportunity to showcase their writing skills in an annual competition sponsored by the university's English department.

Dec. 5 is the submission deadline for anyone currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree program--including MSU staff members. Contest categories include previously unpublished short stories, poems, informal or formal essays, and one-act plays.

Winners selected by a panel of judges will advance to regional competition sponsored by the Southern Literary Festival.

"Over the past years, we've had some outstanding entries from the campus community," said Richard J. Lyons, the department's director of creative writing.

Specifically, entries of:

--Essays, stories and plays should be no longer than 5,000 words;

--Poetry, no longer than 100 lines for a single poem or a group of related poems.

For more details, contact Lyons at (662) 325-2362.