competitions

Traveler Literary Selections for 2021-2022

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After extensive review of nearly 100 submissions, we are happy to announce the selections for our Traveler: Arts & Literary Magazine. Congratulations to our selected authors, and thank you to everyone who submitted. We are honored to read your work, and we hope that you will continue to submit your creations to Traveler during your time at GCC. Thank you, as well, to our student readers and our faculty and community judges. We could not do this without you!

Fiction

  • 1st Place: Half Life, by Carol Powell
  • 2nd Place: Cuyahoga Cuspidor Company, by Peter Faur
  • 3rd Place: I’m Afraid, by Jack Nichols
  • Honorable Mention: Call Me Bathysklera, by Francis Wiget
  • Honorable Mention: You Get What You Pay For, by Francis Wiget

Creative Nonfiction

  • 1st Place: Paper Jungle, by Angela Lilu
  • 2nd Place: God Loves Ugly, by Chuck Wan
  • 3rd Place: The Lynx Lake Trail, by Joselyn Maria Lopez

Poetry

  • 1st Place: Fury, by Abbigayle McCall
  • 2nd Place: The Lonely Trees, by Joselyn Maria Lopez
  • 3rd Place: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, by Abbigayle McCall
  • Honorable Mention: Enochs, by Payton Sparks
  • Honorable Mention: A Box of Memories, by Joselyn Maria Lopez

One-Act Play/Drama

  • 1st Place: A Primer on Kimmerian Witchcraft, by Francis Wiget
  • 2nd Place: Shadow Valley, by Sterling O’Ray

Final Day to Submit to Artists of Promise

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Today (11/24) is the deadline for Maricopa’s Artists of Promise writing contest. If you are an active student in any of the Maricopa Community College District’s schools, such as GCC, you are eligible to enter. You can submit one entry in each of the following categories: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and one-act play/drama. If you have questions, or trouble submitting, you can email jeffrey.baker@gccaz.edu

For full submission rules, and to submit your work, head here: Artists of Promise Submissions

The clock is ticking!

Artists of Promise Contest – 2021!

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2021-22 Artists of Promise: Creative Writing Competition

Each year, the Maricopa Community Colleges sponsor a districtwide competition to encourage and recognize student achievement in the following categories:

  • Essay
  • Fiction
  • One Act-Play/Script
  • Poetry

Winning students will receive cash awards, be published in Maricopa’s literary magazine, Passages, and be recognized at the virtual Artists of Promise Event during the Spring of 2022.

Also, the first-place winners in each category will be submitted by the district to then compete at the National Level in the League of Innovation in the Community Colleges Creative Writing Competition.

For competition rules, eligibility requirements, the submission and judging process please go to https://www.maricopa.edu/creative-writing 

Awards

Winners will be notified in early February 2022 by the Maricopa Center for Learning & Innovation (MCLI).

First-place work in each category will be recognized at the Virtual Artists of Promise performance scheduled for Spring 2022.

All awards will be issued via student accounts in SIS shortly after the Artists of Promise gala.

  • $300 for first place
  • $200 for second place
  • $100 for third place

Additionally, First Place winners will be entered in the League for Innovation in the Community College’s National Student Literary Competition and be required to complete League application materials, which will be provided by the MCLI.

Application Close Date: Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Second Annual Humorous Poetry Contest!

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Spring is near, and soon it will once again be time to be funny and make money. On March 18th, from 6PM to 8PM, students can compete for not one, but two awards for humorous poetry. First place in the Randy Smith Award will earn $100 and second place will earn $50.

As with last year, if you would like to participate, bring an original poem, read/perform it in front of our live and supportive audience, laugh at the hilarity of your peers, and possibly take home some extra cash. Participants will be afforded three minutes to read their work, and they must be registered GCC students. See the flyer below and direct any questions to jeffrey.baker@gccaz.edu.

Humorous Poetry Flyer-page-001

English Department Scholarships Due Soon!

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Every year, the English Department at GCC gives out several scholarships. Most are worth $300 apiece, and all applications for these scholarships are due by the last day of February. Some of these scholarships have specific requirements, whereas others are open to just about anyone. And, there is a scholarship specifically for creative writing students! Please consider applying for as many scholarships as you like and/or as many you qualify for.

A full list of the English Department Scholarships, and instructions for how to apply,  can be found here. If you have any questions, direct them to jeffrey.baker@gccaz.edu.

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Traveler Literary Selections for 2019-2020

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After two months of reading and deliberation, we are ready to announce the selections for Issue #53 of the Traveler, GCC’s Arts & Literary Magazine. Thank you to our student and community readers, and to our faculty judges. Thank you to everyone who submitted their creative work and who made these selections so difficult.With over 100 submissions, the process was highly competitive. We hope that those who were not selected this time around will submit again when he Traveler reopens for submissions in Fall.

The authors and stories listed below will be published in the new issue, due out in April 2020. We will also have a celebratory reading on March 18th, open to the public, where the authors can read their winning work.

Fiction

  • 1st Place: “Symbology” by Malka Daskal
  • 2nd Place: “Alone” by Shannon Fernando
  • 3rd Place: “Antimatter” by Malka Daskal
  • Honorable Mention: “Heart of Ice” by Dawn Gibbs

Creative Nonfiction

  • 1st Place: “Length of a Moment” by Taylor Boucher
  • 2nd Place: “The Third Generation” by Malka Daskal
  • 3rd Place: “A Tuesday Morning Apocalypse” by Taylor Boucher
  • Honorable Mention: “Worthless” by Dawn Gibbs

Poetry

  • 1st Place: “A Decade of Yesterdays” by Bette Griffen
  • 2nd Place: “Double-Edged” by Shannon Fernando
  • 3rd Place: “Stormy Love” by Angel Fletcher
  • Honorable Mention: “Timeless” by Cynthia Herda

One-Act Play/Drama

  • 1st Place: “Sugar Script” by Jacob Nguyen

Upcoming Writing Events in November

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With numerous competitions, workshops, and readings, November promises to be a busy month for creative writers at GCC and around the valley. Here’s a quick list of important dates and events:

November 4th: GCC is holding a series of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) writing sessions in the library. The first session is November 4th from 4PM to 5:30PM in L-138. Additional sessions will take place on November 12th, November 18th, and November 25th. Full flier here.

November 15th & November 22nd: ASU is offering scholarships for their Desert Nights & Rising Stars conference. While the conference will be held in spring, scholarship applications are due this month! More details here.

November 16th: GCC is hosting its third and final Saturday Workshop for this semester. David Martinez presents “Learning to Bleed on the Page with Style.” The workshop runs from 10AM to 12PM and is free/open to the public.

November 18th: The Maricopa County Community Colleges District is holding a creative writing competition where winners both get published and paid. The new deadline for this competition is Monday, November 18th. Read all about this Artists of Promise competition here.

November 19th: Mesa Community College is hosting Tiffany Midge for their Literary Reading Series. Midge is a bestselling author of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, and she will read from her book Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s. The reading begins at 7PM and will be held in the Mesa Community College Art Gallery.

November 20th: GCC is hosting its annual Poetry & Prose Slam. Participants share their original, creative work (poems, very short fiction or prose) to a live audience and a panel of judges. The top three participants earn monetary prizes! This event is free and open to the public.

November 30th: GCC’s Library is holding a Fabulous First Chapter Contest and the deadline lands on the final day of November. This competition is open only to GCC students. Full details can be found here.

Artists of Promise – District Writing Competition

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Each year, the Maricopa Community Colleges hold district-wide arts competitions and celebrations. A writing contest is part of these celebrations, and as writers, you are contractually obligated to submit your creative work to this contest. It’s right there in the fine print, if you look close enough, beneath the bits about imprisonment for tearing mattress labels and how breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Winning this competition not only results in publication in the district’s annual Passages magazine, but also a monetary award. Writers who place first, second, and third receive $300, $200, and $100 dollars respectively. First Place winners will be entered in the  National Student Literary Competition sponsored by the League for Innovation.

Much like GCC’s Traveler competition, the district accepts work from four genres (listed below). To review the guidelines in depth, and to submit your work, follow this link: https://events.maricopa.edu/event/artists-promise-creative-writing.

The deadline is November 18th, 2019! (Updated)

  • Essay: 2,000 words
  • Fiction: 3,000 words
  • One-Act Play/Script: 3,000 words including stage direction and/or production notes
  • Poetry: 67 lines