The Seven Hills Literary Contest and Penumbra Poetry and Haiku Contest (collectively, “the Contest”) is sponsored annually by the Tallahassee Writers Association. The contest is open to English-language entries from around the world. For the first time, we are open to published entries as well as unpublished entries.

Winning entries in the “Unpublished” categories are published in the Seven Hills Review along with an author bio. Published works will be acknowledged along with an author bio and teaser copy. Additionally, first-place winners (Published and Unpublished) receive a complimentary copy of the Seven Hills Review!

First, second, and third place may be awarded in all categories; however, the Seven Hills Contest Committee reserves the right to withhold prizes in any category with an insufficient number or quality of entries. If no prizes are awarded in a category, all entry fees in that category will be refunded. Published and unpublished categories are judged separately. All decisions of the Contest Committee are final.

Whether you are a first-time writer or a published author, we invite you to enter the Seven Hills Contest. Writing contests may be an author’s first foray into publication. As such, following the rules helps authors learn the importance of following publishers’ and editors’ submission rules. Please read and heed all the rules for the Contest in general as well as the rules for the specific category(ies) to which you are applying. These are RULES. Failure to comply with the rules is cause for disqualification. Entry fees will not be refunded for failure to comply with the rules.

Judging: Judges are professional, published authors in their category. To ensure fairness, all judging is blind; therefore, any identifying information that is included on the entry (including headers, footers, and document properties) will be cause for disqualification. Published entries are exempt from this requirement.

Eligibility: The Contest is open to all writers, whether or not they have been previously published and whether or not the entry has received awards in other writing contests. Previous winners in the Seven Hills Contest, including excerpts from the same piece, are not eligible for entry. Entries that previously won any award as unpublished works in the Seven Hills Contest may not be entered again as published works. Entries that have been published as part of another writing contest are considered published works. In addition to the RULES below, all submissions must meet the following ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS. Any submission that does not meet these eligibility requirements will be disqualified.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

• All submissions must be the original work of the submitter. Do not include copyrighted material (e.g. song lyrics) that is not the property of the submitter.
• If you enter an unpublished category and your work is accepted for publication elsewhere, notify us immediately. If your submission is in a category that also has a category for published works, we will switch your submission to the published category.
• No adult content will be accepted. Submissions containing adult content will be rejected. Adult content includes but is not limited to graphic violence or explicit sexual content. Language that might be considered rude or offensive but is not gratuitous, misogynistic, or inappropriate for the category will not be rejected out of hand. To decide if your entry contains adult content, apply the Motion Picture Association film rating scale: If your entry would garner an NC-17 (“Adults Only: No One 17 and Under Admitted. Clearly adult. Children are not admitted”) or more restrictive rating, it will be deemed to contain adult content and is NOT eligible for this contest. The determination by the contest committee of whether a submission contains adult content is final.

Submission Process: The contest is open from June 1 – September 30, 2022. The official submissions link is the ONLY way submissions will be accepted. Hard-copy submissions, emailed submissions, and submissions received through any channel other than the official link will NOT be accepted. TWA is not responsible for lost or late submissions or fees that are not received. By submitting an entry, you agree to all rules of the contest and to having your entry published if it is a first, second, or third place winner in an unpublished category.

For more information about entering and fees, visit https://twaonline.org/events/2022.