Entries to the “Forms of Address” Writing Contest are being accepted through March 15, 2021.

This contest is part of the 2021 Centre County Reads/CALS Community Read of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power—a Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction—in which author Deirdre Mask examines the ways in which street addresses provide for ongoing race, class, and other divisions.

Relatedly, “forms of address” denote guidelines for how to address properly government officials and professional persons, and religious dignitaries and royal figures, among others, in spoken greetings and written documents. Inspired by the range of styles, occasions, and categories “forms of address” encompass, enter your best writing—7,500 words or less—in which someone (or something) addresses someone or something else in ways that signal and/or unsettle hierarchical attitudes, ideas, and assumptions in one of the following categories:

• Best Short Fiction,
• Best Nonfiction,
• Best Poetry, and
• Best Entry for a Writer under 18.

Winners will receive a $200 grand prize. Please send entries to cals@psu.edu and include a cover letter with your name, address, contact information, a brief biography, and contest category. Winning entries will be displayed at Schlow Centre Region Library and on the CALS website.

For more information on Community Read events, see the CALS website.