Creative writing contest for bucks

Student writers hoping to earn some money now have an opportunity to do so.

The College of Liberal Arts and the College of Communications are sponsoring the Katey Lehman Creative Writing Awards contest.

The sponsors will award $750 to winners in nonfiction journalism, poetry and fiction, said Stephen Grecco, awards coordinator for the department of English and associate professor of English.

"We've had very accomplished student writers," Grecco said. "It's a very competitive contest and it proves that we have very prestigious writers here at Penn State."

The deadline for submitting an entry in the competition, which is in its 16th year, is Feb. 2. The winner will be announced March 15, according to a news release.

All students who have at least sophomore standing are eligible to enter the competition, according to the release.

Judges will be made up of independent critics and writers, some of whom are from the University.

Katey Lehman was a 1943 graduate of the University, a columnist for the Centre Daily Times and a reporter for The Daily Collegian, according to the release.

The competition is possible, according to the release, because of an endowment by Lehman's sister, Mary Jean Popp Smeal, and Frank P. Smeal of Rumson, N.J.

Applications can be found in the English department, 103 Burrowes Building.

--by Christopher Antonacci