Get Inspired

Are you looking for something to do while at home? Do you want to try your hand at creative nonfiction writing? Then join the Hal Prize and Write On, Door County for DOOR POSTS: Safer-At-Home Stories – a community writing project.

Life has seen many changes in the past few months and people are adapting to a new way of living. We want to hear how people’s daily lives have changed – the good and bad. Stories should be 300-500 words and can be written in any style. Topics can be about adjusting to life at home, something funny that happened, interesting musings you have had, and more! The goal is to spark creativity.

Submissions will be reviewed by staff at Write On and one story will be selected weekly to be printed in the Peninsula Pulse throughout the Safer at Home order. To submit your work, please click here.

The Hal Prize is still taking submissions of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for its 2020 contest. The deadline to submit has been extended to May 15. For more information and to submit, visit thehalprize.com.

In partnership with the Peninsula Pulse, Write On is pleased to present the 2020 Hal Prize, with awards in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and photography.

The judges of the Peninsula Pulse’s 2020 Hal Prize contest in poetry, prose, and photography will be Coburn Dukehart, digital and multimedia director for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism; novelist Jane Hamilton; author and Lawrence University professor David McGlynn; and poet Ed Bok Lee.

Conducted annually since 1998, the Hal Prize seeks to encourage and honor artistic expression in various literary forms and photography.

In previous years, the contest winners’ profiles and work were published in the Peninsula Pulse’s annual Literary Issue. This year, this content will instead be published in the Pulse’s new literary magazine, 8142 Review: an annual, freestanding publication that will focus on creativity and the literary world. Cash awards of up to $250 and a week’s stay at Write On, Door County will be awarded.

The Hal Prize is presented in collaboration with Write On, Door County, a nonprofit organization that promotes writing and reading to year-round and seasonal county residents.

The entry deadline is May 1, 2020. All submissions will be accepted digitally. To review the complete submission guidelines and submit your creative work, visit thehalprize.peninsulapacers.com.

About the Judges

Jane Hamilton, Fiction

Jane Hamilton lives, works, and writes in an orchard farmhouse in Wisconsin. Her short stories have appeared in Harper’s magazine. Her first novel, The Book of Ruth, earned the PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for the best first novel and was a selection of the Oprah Book Club. Her second book, Map of the World, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and named one of the top 10 books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, the Miami Herald, and People magazine.

David McGlynn, Nonfiction

David McGlynn is the author of three books. A Door in the Ocean won the Council for Wisconsin Writers’ Nonfiction Book Award in 2013 and was named an Outstanding Achievement by the Wisconsin Librarians’ Association. His story collection, The End of the Straight and Narrow, won the 2008 Utah Book Award, was a finalist for the 2009 Steven Turner Award for Best First Fiction by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was named an Outstanding Achievement by the Wisconsin Librarians’ Association. His most recent book, One Day You’ll Thank Me: Lessons from an Unexpected Fatherhood, was published in 2018. His writing has appeared in Men’s Health, Real Simple, Parents, the New York Times, Swimmer, Best American Sports Writing, O: The Oprah Magazine, and numerous literary journals.

Ed Bok Lee, Poetry

Ed Bok Lee is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Mitochondrial Night, which explores familial and national legacies, and their persistence across shifting boundaries and the erosions of time. He is the son of North and South Korean immigrants: His mother was a refugee from what is now North Korea; his father was raised during the Japanese colonial period and the Korean War in what is now South Korea. Ed Bok Lee’s honors include the American Book Award, Minnesota Book Award, Asian American Literary Award (Members’ Choice), and a PEN/Open Book Award. He teaches at Metropolitan State University, and for two decades has taught programs for youth, communities of color, and the incarcerated.

Coburn Dukehart, Photography

Coburn Dukehart has spent almost 20 years pursuing the craft of photojournalism and multimedia storytelling. She is the digital and multimedia director for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and a former senior photo editor at National Geographic. She’s also been the picture and multimedia editor at National Public Radio, a photo editor and multimedia producer at usatoday.com and a photo editor at washingtonpost.com, and she interned in the White House photo office. Dukehart holds a master’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri; has earned multimedia honors from the Webbys, WHNPA, NPPA, POYi, and the Edward R. Murrow awards; and has been nominated for a national Emmy.

Open to writers working in ekphrasis: writing inspired by visual art.

Write On, Door County is pleased to offer the Dick Scuglik Memorial Residency and Scholarship to a poet or other writer with demonstrated ability and interest in ekphrastic writing. The residency is awarded annually the third week of June.

The selected writer will be paired with a Door County visual artist. The artist and writer will share work with each other. Each will create new work in response to other’s work prior to the start of the residency. During the residency, both writer and artist will participate in a public event at which the new work is shared, along with a conversation about the creative process.

While ekphrastic writing is most common in poetry, Write On welcomes applications from all genres, provided the work sample submitted fits the classification of ekphrasis.

A scholarship fund is available to assist the writer with travel expenses related to the residency.

Eligibility Requirements

• The contest is open to both published and unpublished writers.
• Writers must be at least 21 years of age.
• Writers may be currently enrolled in a graduate writing program.
• Writers must have demonstrated ability and interest in ekphrasis.

Submission Requirements

• Submit 10-15 pages of a work sample that demonstrates your ekphrastic writing. Excerpts of longer works are acceptable.
• Include a statement of interest in ekphrastic writing, at least one paragraph but no more than three paragraphs.
• Include a list of publications, if any, highlighting published exphrastic writing.
• Include a one-paragraph biographical statement.

DEADLINE: Noon, Tuesday, December 31, 2019.

ENTRY FEE: $40.00

A selection committee organized by Write On, Door County nominates a qualified individual to serve as the Door County Poet Laureate. The Door County Board of Supervisors approves the nomination. The appointment of Poet Laureate is two years.

The purpose of the Poet Laureate appointment is to raise the county consciousness to a greater level of appreciation for the reading and writing of poetry and to serve as a literary ambassador to the community. Among the duties of the Poet Laureate are:

• to encourage and support local poets;
• to build a greater audience for poetry through readings and other events;
• to work with community agencies, schools, libraries, senior citizen groups, service clubs, or church societies on readings, workshops, or other events utilizing the talents of area poets or poetry groups.;
• to utilize the media to promote poetry;
• to occasionally compose a commemorative poem for a special Door County occasion if requested by the chair of a Door County governmental unit (and if mutually agreed upon);
• to bring his/her individual talents and strengths to build a personal agenda which will carry out the mission;
• to keep a log or notebook of activities accomplished and publicity about such activities during the term of appointment.

The selection committee ideally consists of the current and at least one past Door County Poet Laureate, a representative of Write On, a county English teacher, a librarian, and an individual representing the community. The committee considers the following criteria when nominating an individual for the post:

• ability to carry out the duties of the position;
• quality of poetry and publication history;
• contributions to the Door County poetry community;
• recognition locally, regionally, and beyond in the poetry community;
• worthiness of the honor of the position of Door County Poet Laureate.

jerod@writeondoorcounty.org | 920.868.1457

Write On, Door County curates and maintains the Poetry Trail at Newport State Park. Up to 18 poems are displayed on 10 permanent stanchions along the Rowleys Bay and Monarch trails. Available year-round, exhibits change quarterly. The works of local writers, Wisconsin poets, and others are displayed. Contributors include school children, published poets, and the poet laureates of Door County and Wisconsin.

The Poetry Trail can be accessed via the Welcome Center parking lot. The trail wanders through a wooded area and out into open land. The ten stanchions along the path allow people an opportunity to experience poetry within the beauty of nature. The trail began in 2010 as a joint project of local poetry groups and the Newport Wilderness Society. Since 2016, the trail has become a program of Write On. Poetry exhibits are scheduled to change quarterly. Newport State Park is located on County NP, east of Highway 42, near Gills Rock. A state park vehicle sticker is required for admission.

Currently on exhibit through October 8: A celebration of Door County Poets Laureate featuring work by Frances May, Barbara Larsen, Estella Lauter, Ralph Murre, Sharon Auberle, and Nancy Rafal. 

If you would like to volunteer to assist with the Poetry Trail, please contact Jerod Santek by emailing jerod@writeondoorcounty.org or by calling 920.868.1457.