Robert V. Williams Memorial Contest for Short Fiction

  • First Prize: $100.
  • Second Prize: $75.
  • Third Prize: $50.

The top four stories will be published in Occam's Razor.

Guidelines and Rules:

  1. You must be or have been enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student during the current academic year (summer, fall, winter, or spring).
  2. You must have taken (or be enrolled in now) at least one of the fiction, creative nonfiction or poetry workshops at CSUEB (ENGL 2070, 2075, 3070, 3071, 3075, 4070, 4075, 6070, 6075 etc.) You do not need to be enrolled in a workshop at the time of the contest in order to enter. All stories must be clearly printed, double-spaced , on standard size white paper.
  3. Your name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Attach a cover sheet with the story's title, your name, address, email address and phone number.
  4. Submit three typed copies of your story, plus one copy on a diskette (Microsoft Word, RTF or plain text format).
  5. Previously published stories (or those accepted for publication) are not eligible. Exceptions: stories that have appeared only in Occam's Razor or other CSUEB-only publication are eligible.
  6. No word limit, but submissions of more than about 20 pp. are not actively encouraged.
  7. You may enter more than one story, but you will not be awarded more than one prize.
  8. Contest entries will be screened by a local writer or editor, who will select 8 - 12 finalists. The primary judge (a professional writer or editor from outside the CSUEB community) will select the winners from among the finalists.

Poetry Contests

Both the Donald Markos Poetry Prize and the De Clercq Poetry Prize are held annually. Winning poems are published in Occam’s Razor. For information on these contests, please contact the English department.

Alison Warriner Essay Contest for Composition Students

This contest is held annually in spring quarter. Submission deadlines will be announced in English composition classes during the spring quarter. Awards are given for the two top essays from each of the English composition classes. Students in any English composition class (English 700s, English 800s, English 910, English 1001, English 1002, English 3000, English 3001, and English 3020) can submit any essay written for their composition class for the contest.