Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) awards the Bechtel Prize annually in recognition of an exemplary essay addressing important issues in the areas of creative writing education, literary studies, and/or the profession of writing.
In 2009, T&W is seeking Bechtel Prize submissions that explore the teaching of creative writing in combination with another artistic discipline, such as dance, media arts, music, theater, or the visual arts; or with another academic discipline, such as math or history. We are seeking essays that shed light on the nature of the creative process and want to read your stories about viewing the art of writing through a different lens, and your take on the benefits and challenges of such cross-disciplinary work.
Questions that might be addressed in essays include, but are not limited to, the following:
- What are the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to teaching creative writing?
- Are there aspects of the creative processes central to the literary arts that students can understand more clearly in the context of other disciplines?
- What are the complications of teaching creative writing with another discipline?
- Do writers who teach in an interdisciplinary way find that work influencing their own creative process?
The winning essay appears in Teachers & Writers magazine, and the author receives a $1,500 honorarium. Authors of submissions selected as finalists for the award share honoraria of $500, and their essays may also be published in Teachers & Writers.
Questions regarding the Bechtel Prize should be directed to bechtel@twc.org.
2009 BECHTEL PRIZE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
· Entry fee: $20 for each entry (make checks payable to Teachers & Writers Collaborative). Each fee entitles the entrant to a new one-year subscription to Teachers & Writers or a one-year extension of a current subscription. Please indicate your choice and include a complete address for subscriptions.
· Submissions should relate to teaching creative writing in an interdisciplinary context.
· Submissions must be previously unpublished and under 5,000 words in length.
· Submissions must be typed, paginated, and double-spaced.
· Submissions will be judged anonymously. The author’s name and address must not appear anywhere on the essay/article.
· Two copies of the entry must be submitted. One copy should include a cover page with the following information: the author’s name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, the title of the submission, and where the author learned about the Bechtel Prize. The other copy should include a cover page with only the title.
· Authors of the Bechtel Prize winner and finalists must permit Teachers & Writers Collaborative to publish their submissions in Teachers & Writers. Teachers & Writers Collaborative reserves the right to edit the submissions for publication.
· Please mail entries to: The Bechtel Prize, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 520 Eighth Ave., Ste. 2020, New York, NY 10018.
· Submissions must be received by 5:00 PM (Eastern), Tuesday, June 30, 2009.
· Submissions that do not conform to the above guidelines will not be reviewed for the Bechtel Prize. Submissions cannot be returned to the authors.
Complete guidelines can be found on the T & W website.
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