The deadline is approaching for student submissions to the Newhouse Writing Awards contest. Students have until this Friday, March 27, at midnight to submit their works for the chance to win many separate $400 awards.
The Newhouse Writing Awards allow students of all majors at Le Moyne College to submit their work for an opportunity to win money and get recognition. There are up to four categories for submission: poetry (up to four poems), fiction (one story of up to 15 pages, or up to four flash fictions of 1-3 pages each), creative non-fiction or journalism (submit one piece of up to 15 pages, or up to four flash nonfictions of 1-3 pages each), and critical essays like scriptwriting or screenplays (submit one script or play of any length), according to Professor Dan Roche.
Students may submit multiple works for the same category, or submit works to multiple different categories, but a student can only win once. Seven awards will be given, with a total of $2,800 in awards. Award winners will be recognized at the Creative Writing Student Reading on April 29 at 4:30 p.m. in Reilly Hall 446 (aka “the Reilly room”).
Submissions to the contest must be emailed to Roche at [email protected], with a subject line including: “Newhouse Awards 2026”, your last name, and the title of the category you are submitting for. The body of your email should include the following: (1) your name; (2) your student ID number; (3) your home address and phone number; (4) the title(s) of the work(s) submitted; and (5) the category for which the work is being submitted.
Submissions should be attached as a document or PDF file. Submissions to separate categories should be sent in a different email. Plagiarism or use of generative AI will not be accepted and will be disqualified.
The contest is sponsored by the Le Moyne College Creative Writing program, and has been around since the early 1980s. The S.I. Newhouse Foundation, responsible for the creation of the Newhouse writing school at SU, partnered with the Le Moyne English Department to provide the funds for the writing awards.
In 1983 the college requested $15,000 in grant money from the Newhouse Foundation to offer better awards for recipients of the writing award. The grant was approved and incorporated into an endowment for the contest, which has been in use ever since.
All students are encouraged to submit their work.
