Southern Sin Essay Contest - $5,000 prize

Deadline: July 31, 2012 Creative Nonfiction and the Oxford Creative Nonfiction Writers Conference & Workshop are looking for essays that capture the South in all its steamy sinfulness -- whether you're skipping church to watch football, coveting your neighbor's Real Housewife of Atlanta, or just drinking an unholy amount of sweet tea. Confess your own wrongdoings, gossip about your neighbor's depravity, or tell us about your personal connection to a famous Southerner headed down the broad road to Hell. Whether the sin you discuss is deadly or just something that would make your mama blush we want to hear about it in an essay that is at least partially narrative--employing scenes, descriptions, etc.

Your essay can channel William Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor, Alice Walker or Rick Bragg; it can be serious, humorous, or somewhere in between, but all essays must tell true stories, and must incorporate both sin and the South in some way.
Usually the wages of sin is death, but this time we're making an exception. The selected essays will be published in Creative Nonfiction #47, and CNF and Oxford will be awarding $5,000 for Best Essay.

There is a $20 reading fee (or send a reading fee of $25 to include a 4-issue CNF subscription--U.S. submitters only); multiple entries are welcome ($20/essay) as are entries from outside the U.S. (though due to shipping costs, the subscription deal is not valid).

Essays must be unpublished, 4,000 words maximum, postmarked by July 31, 2012, and clearly marked "Southern Sin" on both the essay and the outside of the envelope. Please send manuscript, accompanied by a cover letter with complete contact information including the title of the essay, word count, SASE and payment to:

Creative Nonfiction
Attn: Southern Sin
5501 Walnut Street, Suite 202
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

 To submit online: http://creativenonfiction.submishmash.com/submit/12310/account