The Virginia Writers Club has teamed with the Riverside Writers Chapter to form the First Annual Mid-Atlantic Writers Conference.

The conference will be on May 5 and 6 at the Holiday Inn Select of Fredericksburg, Va. It will include a writing competition, instructional seminars, a keynote speaker and appointments with agents.

"A big feature of the conference will be the agents who come to speak with the writers," said Harvey Gold, co-chairman of the conference. He said one of his goals is to give aspiring writers a chance to receive feedback and meet with professionals in the field.

There are already approximately 100 entries for the writing competition, and Gold said he is expecting more. "We have even had entry requests from Italy, Alaska and Hawaii," said Roberta Gold, co-chairman and wife of Harvey Gold.

The writing competition includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry categories. Only conference registrants may submit entries. Cash prizes and trophies will be awarded to three winners in each category.

The Golds, fellow co-chairman Greg Mitchell and the planning committee hope to extend the conference to encompass more states in future years. "In the past, I've had to travel as far as Denver to attend writing conferences," said Diane Parkinson, one of the initial members of the conference planning committee. "There has been no major conference in the area, so our chapter of the Virginia Writers Club decided to plan one."

The keynote speaker will be Patricia Schroeder, former U.S. Congresswoman and current president of the Association of American Publishers. The conference will also feature seminars conducted by esteemed writers in various areas from romance novels to newspapers. One speaker is Ed Jones, editor of Virginia's Free Lance-Star, who will be discussing newspaper writing.

"My wife and I have a great deal of experience in putting together large conferences and meetings, so we've organized this conference to give writers a chance to learn more about writing, get critiques and find ways to get published," Harvey Gold said. "We're already exceeding our expectations."

For more information or to request a contest entry form, e-mail the Golds at tymeout96@aol.com.