Join Us!
Download a membership application form here.
Members are eligible to compete in monthly writing contests. Other benefits include: e-newsletter, e-yearbook, and a link on our Bookshelf page. (To be included on the Bookshelf, please fill out and submit this form). Members will receive via email a copy of the meeting minutes and treasurer’s report before the next meeting.
Membership Contest Rules
September through April contests will be held for dues-paying members. Includes unpublished poetry and unpublished prose, fiction or non-fiction. Only one submission in each category per month. Entries must relate to the monthly prompts (listed below). Prose is limited to 500 words, double spaced; poetry is limited to two typed pages, single-spaced with double spacing between stanzas.
Entries are judged blind by the month’s guest speaker. Submit two documents. First is the entry with no author information. Second is a one-page cover sheet with author’s name, category noted as poetry or prose, title, first two lines, and word count for prose. NOTE: prose entry cannot be judged if the word count is not on the cover sheet or exceeds 500 words. Prizes awarded for both poetry and prose: $10 for first place, $5 for second place, no cash prize for Honorable Mention. All winners are asked to read their winning entry.
Three ways to submit entries:
1. Bring entry to the meeting and give to Rosanne Gulisano, Contest Chair, before the meeting starts.
2 or 3. Do this only if you do not intend to be at the meeting. Rosanne must receive the entry by the Friday before the meeting via mail to 20160 Pecan Trace, Fairhope, AL 36532 or email at
NOTE: The Pensters and the Contest Chair assume no responsibility for lost, late, undelivered or misaddressed entries. Late entries will not be judged.
2020-2021 Monthly Contest Prompts
| Due Date | Prompt | Judge |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 2022 | Right outside the window | |
| Oct. 2022 | Desperate for cash | |
| Nov. 2022 | That would be a perfect world | |
| Dec. 2022 | No contest | No speaker |
| Jan. 2023 | I promise; this is not dangerous | |
| Feb. 2023 | The heirloom had been in the family for 200 years | |
| Mar. 2023 | The day the debt was due | |
| April 2023 | It was powerful to just say “No.” | |
| May 2023 | No contest | No speaker |