THE 2025 GOLDEN QUILL WRITING CONTEST

OPEN 4/01/2025 – 6/30/2025

Get your words ready! The theme for the 2025 SLO NightWriters Golden Quill Writing Contest is: RISK.

ENTER

2025 Judges:

Fiction: Juliet McDaniel, the author of Mr. and Mrs. American Pie, the novel upon which the hit Apple+ TV series Palm Royale is based.

Nonfiction: Deanne Stillman, the author of Blood Brothers, Desert Reckoning, Mustang, Twentynine Palms, and American Confidential.

Poetry: Caleb Nichols, the current San Luis Obispo County Poet Laureate.

CONTEST RULES & GUIDELINES

• The 2025 theme is “risk”. All submissions must engage with the theme in some way.
• All submissions must be previously unpublished.
• The contest is open to writers 18 years old and over residing in the United States and Canada.
• Fiction and creative nonfiction (essays and memoir): up to 5,000 words.
• Poetry: up to 60 lines of poetry per poem; up to 3 poems per submission.
• Please use industry standard formatting as applicable to your form: Times New Roman, 12 pt., double-spaced, one-inch margins.
• First-place winners in each category will receive a $350 cash prize and publication in the 2025 issue of The NightWriter Review.
• Second-place winners in each category will receive a $150 cash prize and publication in the 2025 issue of The NightWriter Review.
• Third-place winners in each category will receive a $50 cash prize and publication in the 2025 issue of The NightWriter Review.
• All entries will be considered for publication in the 2025 issue of The NightWriter Review.
• All submissions will be online through our Duosuma submission portal.
• Multiple submissions are welcome, but you must pay a separate fee for each entry.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw the piece immediately if accepted elsewhere.
• Entry fees are nonrefundable.
• Current SLO NightWriters Board Members are ineligible.
• Entry fee: $20 for SLO NightWriters members and $25 for nonmembers.

CONTEST DIRECTOR: Harvey Ardman. Please direct any questions to: harveyardman.ha@gmail.com.

2024 Golden Quill Writing Contest

Thank you to our 2024 judges: Tod Goldberg, Anne Janzer, and Marguerite Costigan, and congratulations to our 2024 winners, listed below. All winners will be published in the debut issue of The NightWriter Review, and all entries will be considered for publication.

San Luis Obispo NightWriters (“SLO NightWriters”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission of nurturing the Central Coast writing community and providing writing education, opportunities, resources, workshops, and scholarships. The goal of the Golden Quill Writing Contest is to discover and amplify voices in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, and is an annual fundraiser for the organization.

ENTER

2024 Golden Quill Contest Results

Fiction

First Place  S.S. Presby  “Sounds Like Joni Mitchell”

Second Place  Anne R. Allen  “The Lila Segovia Smile”

Creative Nonfiction

First Place  Michele L. Roest “My Favorite Animal Is a Harbor Seal”

Second Place  Rusty Evans “My Wrinkled Brain”

Honorable Mention T.K. Schuberth  “The Stoic Parent”

Poetry

First Place  L.I. Henly “Anatomy of a Train”

Second Place  B. Misty Wycoff “Game Time”