Stephen Bonga Award in POetry & Prose for High school students

Potrait of Steven Bonga.jpg

Win $125 + Publication / 1 Award in Poetry & 1 award in Prose /
Opening Spring 2020

Poetry Judge: TBA

Contest Guidelines:

  • Open to high school writers currently living in Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, or Wisconsin.

  • All work will be considered for inclusion in Up North Lit.

  • Only previously unpublished work will be considered.

  • Submit your work as a single doc, docx, or pdf file. Poetry may be single space.

  • Close friends of the judge, as well as close friends or family of Up North Lit editors, staff, and readers are prohibited from submitting

  • No entry fee to submit

This award will be given annually to two high school students in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Michigan in memory of Stephen Bonga, an Ojibwe and African American fur trader, interpreter, and founder of United Methodist Church in Superior, WI. Bonga was influential in the development of Fort Snelling and Grand Portage among other accomplishments.

All applicants should submit the following material:

  • One creative manuscript consisting of either (1) a short story of no more than 4,000 words, (2) a creative nonfiction story or essay of no more than 4,000 words, or (3) three poems of any length.

  • The first page of this packet must be a title page.

  • A 300-word description detailing the student’s artistic vision and any creative projects in progress.

  • Each document in the packet should be formatted as a doc, docx, or PDF, and the student’s name, high school, email, phone number, and address should appear on the title page of the creative manuscript.

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