Tournament of Writers

Annual Writing Competition

The Tournament of Writers, originally started by Deb Christiansen of Schoolcraft in 2015, is an annual writing competition for authors in Kalamazoo and St. Joseph Counties. The goals of the competition include building a writing community within the communities we serve, encouraging and supporting writers, providing opportunities for improving writing skills, and connecting readers to writers through the power of storytelling.

There are three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Within each of these categories, we also have age divisions: Junior (through 7th grade), Young Adult (8th grade through 25 years), Adult (26 to 50), and Senior (51+). The competition is accessible to all writers, new as well as seasoned writers. Entries are judged using a rubric system. All entries are published in a collection, the Small Town Anthology series. The tournament culminates with a book release and book signing celebration.

3 entries per person, one for each genre: Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry for one flat submission fee of $10.