2016 Betty Creative Writing Awards

2016 Betty Creative Writing Awards Contest Rules

Through the generosity of Dr. Stafford Betty, the 2016 Betty Creative Writing Awards are presented annually to honor the creative work of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels at California State University, Bakersfield and California State University, Bakersfield – Antelope Valley Campus. Awards in three categories will be presented:

Poetry

1st Place - $500

 2nd Place - $300

3rd Place - $200

Short Story

1st Place - $500

2nd Place - $300

3rd Place - $200

Drama

1st Place - $500

2nd Place - $300

3rd Place - $200

Application Deadline: April 4, 2016

Submission Guidelines

• Applications must be filled out completely to be considered for an award.
• Only complete entries received by 5 p.m. on April 4, 2016 will be considered.
• Submissions should include a completed application, plus three hard copies of the work.
• Each entry should be given an original title, which must be included on the application and at the top of the first page of the entry.
• Each of the three hard copies must have the original title of the entry on the first page, but should contain no other identifying information such as author’s name.
• Submission forms can be found here. 
• Submissions must have been written by a student who is an undergraduate or graduate student at CSUB and CSUB-AV during the current school year.
• Submissions must not have been published previously and must be the original work of the submitter.
• Only one entry per contestant may be submitted per category.

Eligible categories are:

• Poetry – Poetry may be one poem or a sequence of poems but must be between 40 and 80 lines in length; entries should be printed in a standard font (Times New Roman 12 point) on white paper.
• Short Story – Short stories must be a minimum of 8 typed pages and a maximum of 25 typed, double-spaced pages in length and printed in a standard font (Times New Roman 12 point) on white paper.
• Drama – Drama may be for radio, stage, or screen; entries must be a minimum of 8 typed pages and a maximum of 25 typed, double-spaced pages in length and printed in a standard font (Times New Roman 12 point) on white paper.

Entries that do not conform to these standards will not be considered for an award.

• Awards will be presented at the Annual Sigma Tau Delta Induction and Awards Ceremony on April 28th, 2016. Award winners do not need to be present to win.
• There are no entry fees or payments to enter or win the Betty Creative Writing Awards.
• As a co-sponsor of this contest, Sigma Tau Delta will be responsible for assembling and managing the awards screening committee, which will consist of CSUB faculty and staff.
• Sigma Tau Delta/The Betty Creative Writing Awards reserves the right not to name a winner in any or all of the categories if insufficient entries are submitted.

Submit directly to –
      Dr. Emerson Case
      Faculty Towers 204B

Or mail to –
     Dr. Emerson Case
     Department of English
     California State University, Bakersfield
     10F
     9001 Stockdale Hwy.
     Bakersfield, CA 93311

Building Bridges 2016

For more information, visit the Building Bridges homepage.

Lectures in Language and Linguistics

Writing Color

As part of an interdisciplinary improvisation, Matthew Rich had his art students collaborate with Matthew Woodman's creative writing students to work on the interplay between visual and verbal arts.  Woodman's students wrote poems for Rich's art students to illustrate as blocks of color, and then they reversed the process and had Woodman's students respond to colors Rich's students generated.  The whole endeavour was a worthwhile exercise in inspiration, connotation, and collaboration.  At the end, thanks again to Matthew Rich, a gallery space on campus exhibited the results.

Theatrefest

Congratulations to Jacob Brown, Susannah Vera, Mateo Lara, English minors Chyna Parker and Greg Bolanos, and English major Anthony Jauregui for having their plays chosen as part of Theatrefest!

CSUB Theatrefest Presents The Theatre of New Voices written and directed by CSUB students.

This is a biennial festival of student-written, student-directed one-acts. Seven short plays were selected through a competition held last spring.

Thursday-Saturday, February 25, 26, 27 at 8PM
Saturday-Sunday, February 27 & 28 at  2PM
Doré Arena Theatre

Limited seating; reservations strongly recommended as this production normally sells out: (661) 654-3150. Reservations taken starting February 15th.

Note: latecomers cannot be seated

$10 General Admission
$8 Seniors (60+)/CSUB Faculty & Staff
$5 Students with Identification

Box Office opens one hour prior to each performance and takes cash and checks only. We do not take credit cards. For a reservation, call (661) 654-3150.

Polish Poetry after Tadeusz Różewicz

In the latest issue of the literary journal Jacket2, Professor Marit MacArthur introduces a series of new translations of Polish poetry inspired by Tadeusz Różewicz, a Polish poet who lived from 1921-2014 and whose deadpan, pragmatist perspective has influenced poets across Europe as well as here in America.

MacArthur's introduction is titled "(Polish) Poetry after Różewicz," which you can read here.

To read three of MacArthur's co-translations, of the poet Jerzy Jarniewicz, click here.

Matthew Zapruder Reading

On Wednesday, November 18, The California Writers Series hosted the poet Matthew Zapruder, who read from his poetry collections Come on All You Ghosts and Sun Bear and from a nonfiction manuscript-in-progress about how to approach and engage poetry.  The reading was a resounding success, with Zapruder following his poems by engaging in a question-and-answer session with the audience and signing copies of his books.

Many thanks to Matthew Zapruder for sharing his work with us, and thanks to Marit MacArthur for arranging the reading; Curt Asher and the Walter Stiern Library for hosting; Poets & Writers, Sigma Tau Delta, and the CSUB English Department for sponsoring; and Eileen Montoya and Milissa Ackerley for managing arrangements and publicity.