The Salt Lake Community College Community Writing Center will host a variety of activities at this year’s Utah Arts Festival, including a writing competition and a call for submissions for an anthology collection.
The competition, called the “Wasatch Iron Pen,” is a 24-hour writing marathon where participants can compete in one of three genres – fiction, non-fiction, or poetry – or in all three categories under the “Ultra Iron Pen.”
Those looking to participate in the competition must register by June 24 at 6 p.m. Registration is $10 for one category or $15 for all three. The prompt will go out June 24 at 6 p.m. on the center’s Facebook and Instagram feeds with winners to be announced June 26 at 12:30 p.m.
Following the announcement of winners, the center will also issue a call for submissions for the Great Salt Lake Community Anthology, a collection of artistic works.
“Writers of all genres, photographers of all styles, and artists using all genres and mediums are encouraged to submit their written, visual, and performative stories about the Great Salt Lake,” the center wrote.
The anthology stems from the center’s work with the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism collaborative of news, education and media organizations that have come together to share stories about the shrinking lake, and ways to save it.
This call is open to anyone over age 15. Those looking to submit their work must do so no later than 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 26. A reading gala of the anthology will be held in late September, and contributors will be given a print edition of the anthology and an opportunity to read from their work at the gala. More details will be shared at the beginning of August.
In addition to the writing competition and call for submissions for the GSL Anthology, the center will also host various writing workshops for children and adults during the festival. More information about those workshops can be found on the center’s webpage.
The Utah Arts Festival, featuring over 170 artists from throughout Utah and beyond, is set to run from June 23 to 26 at Library Square and Washington Square in Salt Lake City.
