Postmark deadline: February 1, 2009

The Doris Betts Fiction Prize awards the first- prize winner $250; the 10 finalists will be considered for publication in the North Carolina Literary Review.

These finalists will be almost the only fiction that NCLR considers.

This year’s final judge will be Kat Meads, a native of eastern North Carolina now living in California, Meads’s books include the short story collections Not Waving and Little Pockets of Alarmand the novels Sleep and The Invented Life of Kitty Duncan Benedict Roberts.

For more information about the Betts competition, including the new submission guidelines, see www.ncwriters.org/programs-and-services/competitions/25-doris-betts-fiction-prize

The 2008 Betts Prize and second place stories will appear in NCLR’s 2009 issue, forthcoming this summer. For subscription information, go to www.ecu.edu/nclr.

Eligibility & Guidelines
· The competition is open to any writer who is a legal resident of North Carolina or a member of NCWN.
· Entrants should submit two copies of a typed, original, and unpublished story, not to exceed 6,000 words.
· Names should not appear on manuscripts, but on a separate cover sheet with the author’s name, address, telephone numbers, email address, and ms. title.
· One entry per writer.
· Entries will not be returned; enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for a list of winners. An entry fee must accompany manuscript. You may pay the member entry fee if you join NCWN with your submission: $10/NCWN members, $20/non-members.

Send submissions, indicating name of competition to:

Margaret Bauer
NC Literary Review, Department of English, East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858-4353