The Wade Edwards Short Fiction Scholarship Contest is now open for entries. The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2013.

The award is given annually to three North Carolina high school juniors who submit the most outstanding piece of original short fiction. The competition, administered and supported by the North Carolina English Teachers Association and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, is sponsored by the Wade Edwards Foundation. The scholarship rewards excellence in creative writing and encourages the contemplation of virtues associated with Wade Edwards: humility, strength of convictions, loyalty, honor, charity, determination, the value of family, and the obligations of friendship and community. Wade, the son of John and Elizabeth Edwards, was a talented high school student whose life ended tragically at the age of 16.

The three student scholarships, along with a gift to the first place winner’s English department, total $10,000: first place ($5,000), second place ($2,000), third place ($1,000) and $2,000 to the winner’s English department. For the first time this year there will also be eight regional winners. Each of the eight NCETA regions will select a winner to receive a $500 scholarship. The first five entries from each region will also receive a $50 gift card. Students from all schools – public, private, charter and home schools are encouraged to submit their writing.

Marianne Gingher, an award winning author of both fiction and non-fiction, was the 2012 judge. A judge for the 2013 competition has not yet been named. Winners’ stories from previous years are posted at http://wade.org/pages/shortfictionaward.html.

Students may review the entry guidelines and obtain an entry form by going to the Foundation website at www.wade.org. The entry form does require both a teacher and a parent signature.