"PEACE VERSUS WAR" SCHOLARSHIP
For the fall semester only, Luna Negra, Kent State’s student literary and creative arts magazine, is offering three scholarships for the three most effective “peace versus war” poems. The scholarships are made possible by a generous donation from John Kusnir, an Ohio poet and artist.
Kusnir attended Kent State in 1966, was drafted and served in Vietnam from 1966-69 and returned to Kent State in 1973. Kusnir’s experiences have informed an historical consciousness and a respectable body of his own poetry, and the intention of this contest is to reopen a dialogue with the current generation of Kent State students on the topic of “peace versus war.”
The deadline to submit your poem is Oct. 31. Three winners will receive publication in the winter issue of Luna Negra, will be featured on the website and will be printed in the Daily Kent Stater. The first place poem will receive $1,000, second place will receive $500 and third place will receive $250.
Only current Kent State University students are eligible. Submissions should be directed to lunanegramag@gmail.com, and will be also considered for publication independent of the scholarship if they are not chosen for the scholarship. The subject line should read: “Peace versus War Scholarship.” Please include a three-line author bio (tell us a little about yourself) in the body of the email and attach the submission in .doc format.
Winners will be announced before the end of the 2012 fall semester. Poems should not exceed 100 lines, and pieces of a prose nature will be considered for the scholarship but must be no more than a one-page length. Luna Negra will only accept one poem per writer, or one piece of prose, and that submission must be previously unpublished.
Roxane Beth Johnson will serve as the guest judge for the contest. Johnson earned an MFA from San Francisco State University. She is the author of “Jubilee,” chosen by Philip Levine for the Philip Levine Prize in Poetry from Anhinga Press. Johnson’s second book, “Black Crow Dress,” is forthcoming from Alice James Books. She has won an AWP Prize in Poetry and a Pushcart Prize, 2007. She has received scholarships or fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Cave Canem, The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and San Francisco Arts Commission. Her work has appeared in the Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, Image, Callaloo, Beloit Poetry Journal, ZYZZYVA, Chelsea, and elsewhere.
Click here for general submission information.
