Writing Contest
Official Rules of the ECTC English Department Writing Award Essay Contest
By submitting to the contest, the entrant agrees to abide by all the rules published below.
Contest Entry:
Any currently enrolled ECTC student in good academic standing during the Fall 2025
semester is eligible to enter. There is no entry fee. Limit one entry per student.
Contest entries will only be accepted via the official contest submission form during the submission period, August 1st-September 15th, 2025. The submission form requires that the file be uploaded as a Word compatible document (.doc, .docx, or .rtf). The judges cannot and will not accept entries submitted via any other method or as any other file type.
By submitting to the contest, an entrant consents to having their essay published in The Heartland Review. The winning essay will be published as it was entered, without any changes or revisions allowed.
Essay submissions must be original works by the entrant, in English. Essays written in any language other than English will be automatically disqualified.
Essay submissions must be free of plagiarism, which includes any use of another writer’s words or ideas without proper attribution. Entries may make use of source material, but, if they do, they should be documented in MLA style. Any instance of plagiarism will disqualify the entrant from the contest.
Essay submission must not include any work generated or created by computer software and/or artificial intelligence. If the judges determine that the submission includes such content, the entry will be disqualified from the contest.
Essay submissions must address the contest prompt to “compose a 3–5-page piece of creative nonfiction about the role of the arts in your life and/or in your community.” Essays on other topics will not be considered for the contest.
Judging Process:
The contest will be blindly judged by a panel of three ECTC general education instructors,
at least two of whom are full-time English Department faculty.
The judges will select a winning essay that stands out for its strength of purpose and originality of content and/or style. If no such essay is submitted to the contest, the judges will not declare a winner.
The judges will decide and notify contest entrants by November 21st, 2025.
Prize & Publication Requirements:
The contest winner will be awarded the English Department’s 2025-2026 Writing Award
and will have their winning essay published in The Heartland Review. (There is no
monetary award for this contest.)
The winning essay will be published in the Spring 2026 edition of The Heartland Review.
The winning essay will be published with a writer’s bio. If the winner did not include a 30-40-word bio with their contest entry, they must submit one to Amy Fox-Angerer by or before December 5th, 2025.
If the winner is under 18 years of age, they cannot be published in The Heartland Review unless they are granted permission by a parent/guardian via a provided consent form that must also be signed by a notary. The notarized form must be filed by or before December 5th, 2025.
In the event that the winner fails to meet the publication requirements specified above or requested by the Editor in Chief of The Heartland Review Press, the entrant forfeits the prize. If the original winner forfeits the prize, the judges may elect to award another entrant as the contest winner.
The winner will receive 1 copy of the issue of The Heartland Review in which their essay appears. Additional copies will be available for purchase on Amazon.
The Heartland Review Press (THRP) retains first North American serial rights and may use the submitted material to promote the The Heartland Review and website in perpetuity. Upon publication, rights revert back to the writer.
As the English Department’s 2025-2026 Writing Award recipient, the winner will be invited to attend ECTC’s Awards Night.
If entrants or prospective entrants have any questions or concerns about the contest, they should contact Maggie Brown at mbrown0303@kctcs.edu.
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