Creative Writing Contest

Promoting creativity across the university, the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences' annual Creative Writing Contest honors outstanding examples of prose and poetry, written by Stevens students.

The Creative Writing Contest celebrates the literary talents of Stevens students from all departments and programs. Judged blindly by a former contest winner, the competition honors separate winners in the categories of prose and poetry, who, along with runners-ups, are invited to present their work at an end-of-the-year celebration.

Entries reflect a diverse and exciting array of creative talent among Stevens students who are often pursuing degrees in STEM subjects.

The contest was launched in 2013 by Billy Middleton, a teaching associate professor, and is now managed by Michelle Burke, a teaching assistant professor.

2024 Creative Writing Contest: Submission Guidelines

The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 22!

We are now accepting entries for the 2024 HASS Creative Writing Award in Poetry and Prose!

Entrants may submit up to 3 poems, up to 5 pages total. We are interested in poems of any style, traditional or experimental. We are also interested in receiving fiction, creative nonfiction, and screenwriting submissions. Students should submit a single story, essay, or script up to 1,500 words in length. You may submit in each category, but only one submission (or, for poetry, one set of submissions) per category.

The first prize in each category (poetry and prose) will be a $100 gift certificate. The second prize in each category will be a $50 gift certificate.

The contest is judged blindly, so leave your name off the manuscript and include a separate cover sheet with contact information (name, email, title of your work). Only unpublished work will be considered. You must be a student at Stevens Institute of Technology to be eligible. The contest is open to any student from any department.

This year’s contest will be judged by Stevens graduate Sophia Chong. Sophia Chong is an MFA poetry student and educator at Rutgers University-Newark. A semifinalist of the 2023 Adrienne Rich Award, their poetry and prose has appeared/is forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal, The Adroit Journal, Seneca Review, Sine Theta, among other places.

Submit contest entries as a .docx or .pdf file to [email protected].

Past Winners