2019 Bechtel Prize – December 2 Deadline

2019 BECHTEL PRIZE
Deadline: December 2, 2018

Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) awards the annual Bechtel Prize to the author of a submission that explores creative writing, the imagination, and/or imaginative writing and arts education. The 2019 Bechtel Prize judge is St. John’s University’s Gabriel Brownstein.

Past submissions for the Bechtel Prize have:

• Addressed vital issues in creative writing and arts education;
• Provided first-hand accounts of a formative experience teaching writing:
• Explored the writing life, the process of becoming a writer, or early experiences with literature and the imagination;
• Discussed how poets and writers nurture their creativity;
• Offered portraits of key teachers and mentors in the author’s life.

For the 2019 award, T&W is particularly interested in submissions that address one or
more of the following questions:

• How does the current political climate influence the way you teach writing? Has your
  approach changed as a result of the political and social context of the last two years?
• Why is it important to teach imaginative writing, and what have you learned by doing
  this work?

The submission selected to receive the Bechtel Prize will appear on Teachers & Writers Magazine and the author will receive a $1,000 honorarium. Honoraria totaling $500 are shared by the authors of entries selected as finalists for the prize, which may also be published on Teachers & Writers Magazine.

Selection criteria for the Bechtel Prize include relevance and appropriateness for readers of Teachers & Writers Magazine, most of whom teach writing at the elementary, secondary, or postsecondary level. T&W welcomes personal narrative, reportage, and essays.

Prospective entrants for the Bechtel Prize are encouraged to visit the magazine to become familiar with the publication, and to read past winners of the award. The submission deadline for the 2019 Bechtel Prize is Sunday, December 2, 2018. Please refer to the submission guidelines below for additional information.

2019 Bechtel Prize Judge
Gabriel Brownstein’s short story collection, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W, won the PEN/Hemingway Award, was a finalist for the Koret Jewish Book Award, and was named one of the New York Public Library’s 25 Books to Remember of 2002. His novel, The Man from Beyond, was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and one of Booklist’s Top 10 Historical Novels in 2005. His book reviews and criticism have appeared in The Village Voice, The Boston Globe, and The New Leader. Brownstein has been on the faculty at St. John’s University since 2005. He serves on the Teachers & Writers Collaborative Board of Directors.

2019 Bechtel Prize Submission Guidelines

• Submissions must be previously unpublished and under 3,500 words in length.
• Submissions must be typed, paginated, and double-spaced.
• Submissions must be sent in Word or PDF format.
• Submissions will be judged anonymously. The author’s name and address must not
  appear anywhere on the essay/article.
• There is a $20 fee for each submission for the Bechtel Prize. Multiple entries are
  permitted.
• Authors of the Bechtel Prize winner and finalists must permit T&W to publish their
  submissions on Teachers & Writers Magazine. T&W reserves the right to edit
  submissions for publication.
• Submissions that do not conform to the above guidelines will not be reviewed for the
  Bechtel Prize.
• Questions regarding these guidelines may be sent to bechtel@twc.org.

2019 Bechtel Prize Submission Process
There is a two-step process for submissions for the 2019 Bechtel Prize.
Step 1: Send the submission as a Word or PDF attachment to an email to bechtel@twc.org, Ensure that the author’s name, e-mail address, and phone number are included in the e-mail message, but do not appear on the essay. If you wish to submit more than one essay, each submission should be sent as an attachment to a separate email
message.
Step 2: Mail a check for $20 payable to Teachers & Writers Collaborative to the
following address.

Bechtel Prize
Teachers & Writers Collaborative
540 President Street, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215