Submission Guidelines

2020 Gabehart Prize Submission Guidelines

Postmark deadline: June 1. One winner will be chosen by a panel of judges from our board in each of three genres: poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Winners will be personally notified and posted on our Web site no later than July 15, 2020.

Eligibility

  • Please do not apply if you have won this award in the past five years (2015 or later).
  • Works that are previously published are not eligible for this award. This includes works accepted for publication that have not yet appeared.
  • The contest is open to any female writer of English.
  • Employees or board members of the Kentucky Women Writers Conference are not eligible.

Work Format

  • Length: no more than 5 manuscript pages of poetry (which may consist of more than one poem); or no more than 6,000 words of fiction or nonfiction
  • Please submit two copies of the work.
  • The author’s name or address must not appear anywhere on the work.

Submission Information

  • Each work entered must be accompanied by its own entry form and a $10 entry fee payable to Kentucky Women Writers Conference. You may write a single check for multiple entries.
  • Submission of more than one work is permissible; each must be accompanied by its own entry form and fee. If multiple works are entered with a single entry fee, only the first work will be accepted.
  • Entries must be postmarked by June 1, 2020 or submitted online by 11:59 p.m. on June 1.
  • Please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard if you would like notification that the entry has been received.
  • We cannot return entries.
  • Contest results will be posted on our website by July 15, 2020. Winners will be notified immediately.

Please send entries to:
Betty Gabehart Prize
Kentucky Women Writers Conference
University of Kentucky
232 East Maxwell Street
Lexington, KY 40506-0344

Direct inquiries to: kentuckywomenwriters@gmail.com