SLO Nightwriters | Sharpen Your Golden Quills

SLO NIGHTWRITERS

Sharpen Your Golden Quills

BY JUDITH AMBER

After a two-year absence, the Golden Quill Writing Contest, sponsored by SLO NightWriters, is back! Janice Konstantinidis, the group’s president, explained the purpose of the organization, “SLO NightWriters is the premier writing organization on the Central Coast.

“We are a group of over 130 writers, from beginner to well published, in genres including fiction, poetry, memoir, screenwriting, and non-fiction. Our aim is to nurture, mentor and support all writers.”

The support and nurturance of member writers takes different forms. Members can participate in critique groups. There is a monthly general meeting with a guest speaker. Topics have included: how to find an agent; self-publishing; designing an eye-catching website; point-ofview and characterization, and advice about writing in a particular genre. And there is the writing contest.

Thirty-three years ago, SLO NightWriters decided to run an annual literary contest. The first few contests were limited in scope. But over the years, the Golden Quill Writing Contest grew in number of entries, and in recent years, it has been open to all writers in the USA and even abroad. Then covid-19 hit, and that ended the in-person monthly general meeting, although it has continued on Zoom. The writing contest was put ‘on hold.’ 31. Guidelines for the contest submission are on the organization’s website SLONightWriters.org.

Recognizing the major impact COVID has had on our lives, the contest theme is “Masks,” and writers are asked to interpret this theme literally or figuratively. Writing should fall within the genres of short story, memoir and creative non-fiction, and poetry. Judges will be experienced writers in those genres. There will be an award ceremony this summer at which the winning writers will read their work.

As the covid crisis subsided and the group planned to resume live meetings, the question as to whether the writing contest should be reinstated came up. Judith Amber, now serving as the contest director, told the Board of Directors, “Many things ground to a halt during the covid years. But writing never stopped. I’ll bet our members used the isolation time to do more of what they love — write! I expect we will have a good number of entries in 2022. I propose, however, that we should ‘think locally’ instead of globally and limit eligibility to writers who live in San Luis Obispo County and/or are members of SLO NightWriters.” The board agreed.

The dates for submitting work to the contest are May 1 to May

Asked about awards, the director hesitated, “We just can’t predict the number of contest entries whose fees go to the prizes, but there will be monetary awards. However, prizes aren’t the main point of the contest. It’s to acknowledge the creative talent in our midst and to let more people who are aspiring writers know about what our organization has to offer.”

So although masks are becoming less a part of our lives, the memory of being masked should still be vivid. Time to turn those memories into poems, short stories, and essays for the Golden Quill Writing Contest. Writers, get out your golden quills! 