December 21, 2009

The inaugural Normal Prize in Fiction and Nonfiction competition is under way, offering prizes of $1,000 in each category and publication in The Normal School, a national literary journal published by The Press at California State University, Fresno.

The deadline for submissions is Feb. 12 for previously unpublished work in either genre no longer than 10,087 words. There is a $20 fee for each entry.

Judging the short fiction competition will be award-winning novelist Margot Livesey, whose work includes “The House on Fortune Street,” “Homework,” “The Missing World,” and “Banishing Verona.”

David Shields will decide the essay winner. His books include “The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead,” and his essays have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Salon, Slate and other publications.

The Normal School is a biennial literary anthology of poetry and short prose fiction and nonfiction that is published in conjunction with the Master of Fine Arts program through Fresno State’s Department of English and College of Arts and Humanities. All contest submissions will be considered for publication in The Normal School.

Questions should be addressed to normalprize@thenormalschool.com.