Academic Awards, Contests & Publications

The LAND Film Competition is open to any student enrolled in a credit class at a public Michigan two-year college during the 2022 calendar year.

Each entry must be sponsored by a faculty member (full-time or adjunct) who has reviewed the student’s work and attests that it is appropriate for the contest criteria and competitive rigor at the state level.

Theme

LAND purposely keeps the conference theme broad to invite a range of interpretation across Liberal Arts disciplines,

The theme for the 2023 LAND Conference Fine Arts and Illustration Competitions hasn’t been determined yet, and will be posted as soon as possible.

Criteria

Entries will be evaluated for originality, creativity, and quality of the concept of how effectively the idea relates to the theme. Design and craftsmanship will also be a part of the decision. Films conceptually/visually inspired by other works are welcome, however, works that are replications/copies of an original are not eligible for entry and will not be accepted.

Specifications

The theme can be expressed in either fiction or nonfiction/documentary. All films submitted for jurying must be the student’s original work. Copies of other artists’ work are not acceptable.

The LAND Composition Committee retains the right to remove any work deemed not original, is purposely offensive content or discriminatory towards a population, or that does not meet the stated specifications.

 

Fiction: Expresses an interpretation of the conference theme and is no longer than 20 minutes.

Nonfiction/Documentary: Topic relates to the conference theme in some way and is no longer than 20 minutes.

• • The work must be entered in a digital form that can be presented at the LAND conference.
  • Duration may not exceed 20 minutes.

Copyright

Students retain the copyright to their submissions to the LAND Film competition. However, students need to grant LAND the right to reproduce any submission on its website or any other LAND publication regardless of medium of publication. 

Delta College awards

• • 1st Prize:  $75
  • 2nd Prize: $45
  • Honorable Mention
    1st and 2nd Prize entries in each category will be sent to compete in the state-wide competition.

Questions?

Jill Delaney, Administrative Office Professional
jilldelaney@delta.edu 
989-686-9159

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY

Award criteria

This award will be given to a Delta student who meets the following criteria:

• • A demonstrated and strong ability to grow as a writer.
  • A way of "standing out" to his or her instructor in a positive way. Examples: Has this student shown great determination? Overcome serious obstacles while pursuing academic excellence? Shown, again and again, that he or she belongs in a community of learners?
  • Recent enrollment in a developmental writing class as part of his or her time at Delta College (within an academic year).

Additional guidelines

• • While students may be nominated by any current or past instructor, the writing sample must be from a WRT 090, WRT 098 or ENG 099 course.
  • A copy of the assignment and/or rubric for which the sample was written must also be submitted so the judges can have a better context for understanding the writing.
  • Faculty must write a brief (under 350 words) endorsement for each student they nominate.

Questions?

Crystal Starkey, Contest Coordinator
crystalstarkey@delta.edu  
989-686-9534

Jill Delaney, Administrative Office Professional
jilldelaney@delta.edu 
989-686-9159

Submit your entry

The LAND Creative Writing Competition is open to any student enrolled in a credit class at a public Michigan two-year college during the 2024 calendar year. Faculty may make judicious suggestions to students to revision of entries.

Categories

• • Creative Non-fiction (max. 2000 words)
  • Poetry (max. 50 lines)
  • Fiction (max. 2000 words)

Winners will be selected from each category at the college level. The top two winners of each category at the college level will continue on to compete at the State level.

Criteria

• • Creative nonfiction will be judged on originality of content, purpose, audience awareness, organization, development, style, and mechanics.
  • Fiction and poetry will be judged on imaginative insight, sensitivity to language, and control of formal elements (e.g. point of view, metrics, etc.)

Specifications

• • No previously published work may be submitted.
  • Work must be original. Any borrowed ideas or language must be appropriately acknowledged.
  • Authors must be willing to have their work published under their own names. No anonymous or pseudonymous work will be accepted.

Format

• • Neither the author's name nor the name of the author's college should appear anywhere on any entry.
  • Entries will be identified by the author's student number, which should appear in the upper right hand corner of each page.
  • All multi-paged entries must be titled and paginated.
  • All entries must be have one-inch margins.
  • All entries must be submitted in .doc , .docx, or .pdf format. When format is an integral part of the work’s aesthetic effect, a scanned image converted to a .pdf document is acceptable.
  • Poems must have a title.
  • Poems may be spaced and arranged accordingly to the poets intent.
  • Creative Nonfiction must be double-spaced.
  • Fiction must be double-spaced unless alternate formatting is an integral part of the story's aesthetic effect.

Copyright

The student retains the copyright to the fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction submitted to the LAND writing competition. However, the student grants LAND the right to reproduce any submission on its website or any other LAND publication regardless of medium or publication.

The LAND Writing Competition is open to any student enrolled in a credit class at a public Michigan two-year college during the calendar year. Faculty may make judicious suggestions to students for revision of entries.

Delta College awards (in each category)

• • 1st Prize:  $75
  • 2nd Prize: $45
  • Honorable Mention

1st and 2nd Prize entries in each category will be sent to compete in the state-wide competition.

Questions?

Jill Delaney, Administrative Office Professional
jilldelaney@delta.edu 
989-686-9159

Donny Winter, Associate Professor
donaldwinter@delta.edu 
989-686-9015

Submit your entry

The League for Innovation Student Literary Award competition enables community college students to compete with their peers across North America. Students must be enrolled for credit in courses at Delta College during the 2023-2024 academic year (enrolled between April 1, 2023 - April 1, 2024).

Specifications

• • All entries must be original works, created between April 1, 2023 - April 1, 2024, during enrollment in credit courses at Delta.
  • Local coordinators must verify academic enrollment.
  • Each entry must have a sponsoring faculty member

Maximum length requirements

• • Essay – Must not exceed 2,500 words
  • Fiction – Must not exceed 3,500 words
  • One Act Play – Must not exceed 3,500 words, including stage direction and/or production notes
  • Poetry – Must not exceed 67 lines 

Local competition awards (in each category)

• • 1st Prize: $100 (and sent to the national competition)
  • 2nd Prize: $50
  • Honorable Mention - Certificate of Recognition

National competition awards (in each category)

• • 1st Prize:  $500
  • 2nd Prize: $200
  • 3rd Prize: $100

Submissions must meet all the formatting guidelines listed above in order to qualify. If the submission does not meet the formatting guidelines, it will not be entered into the contest. The submission deadline is April 1, 2024.

Questions?

Mark Brown
Contest Coordinator
markbrown@delta.edu 
989-686-9024

Jill Delaney, Administrative Office Professional
jilldelaney@delta.edu 
989-686-9159

Submit your entry

The Pioneer Post is the outlet for current Delta College students to share their polished fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and media projects with the community and world at large. 

History

Delta College’s English faculty founded the Pioneer Post in 2014 as an effort to showcase the creative writing of its students. Since its inception, the Post has published student poetry, prose, and digital stories. It is also proud to publish the annual winners of the Skip Renker, League for Innovation and Liberal Arts Network for Development creative writing contests. Thanks to the support and collaboration of Delta Student Services, the Post is available in print and online.

Submission Guidelines

The Post seeks to publish distinct and complete work from writers of all levels of experience. Along with open submissions, the Post may solicit work on a chosen theme. There is no length requirement, but editors reserve the right to request additional revision prior to acceptance. When submitting any form of written media, please be sure it’s written in Times New Roman, 12 point font.

Open submissions are accepted on a rolling basis. All submissions are automatically considered for online and print publication. Although authors must be enrolled in a class at Delta at the time of submission, publication in the magazine may occur at any time.

If the Post accepts your work, it has first serial print and electronic rights, along with nonexclusive electronic archival rights, to showcase your work indefinitely on the website. At the time of publication, all serial rights revert to the author. If you republish the work elsewhere, please credit the Pioneer Post as the first publisher.

Questions?

Donald Winter, Pioneer Post Coordinator
donaldwinter@delta.edu

Pioneer Post
pioneerpost@delta.edu

SUBMIT YOUR entry

For more than 35 years, Fred "Skip" Renker was a well-published poet and essayist and a distinguished Delta College teacher of creative writing. His students frequently won recognition in local, state, and national writing contests. In December 2004, the Skip Renker Creative Writing Award was established by the Delta College Foundation to recognize a top Delta College student writer.

Eligibility

• • Enrolled in at least one academic course during the Fall 2023 and/or Winter 2024 semester.
  • Have at least a 3.0 overall grade point average.
  • May apply any academic year in which they are enrolled, but may only win the award once.

Submission criteria

• • Entrants will submit a portfolio of writing. Some of this writing must have been created for one or more Delta College writing courses. The portfolio may include any (or a combination of):
    • • Creative Nonfiction (Personal Essay)
      • Short Fiction Story
      • Poetry
      • One-Act Play
      • Screenwriting
  • Entries must be word-processed.
  • Total no more than 20 pages on 8.5 x 11-inch white paper. These 20 pages can consist of any combination of creative nonfiction, short story, poetry, one-act play or screenwriting.
  • Short stories and essays must be double-spaced.
  • Poetry may be single-spaced or double-spaced.
  • Include the author’s Delta College student number on the upper right corner of each page.
  • Do not include the author's name on the pages of the entry.
    It will be disqualified if the author’s name appears anywhere in the entry.
  • Deadline for submissions: March 15, 2024

Judging

This year's judges will include Professor emeritus Skip Renker.

Awards

The winning student will receive a cash prize and a commemorative plaque.

Questions?

Crystal Starkey, Contest Coordinator
crystalstarkey@delta.edu  
989-686-9534

Jill Delaney, Administrative Office Professional
jilldelaney@delta.edu 
989-686-9159

Submit your entry