Hi! My name is Peter LaBerge. I am a seventeen-year-old high school student born and raised in Connecticut. This year, I received a Gold Medal in Poetry and a Silver Medal in Flash Fiction from The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. I also received the 2012 Elizabeth Bishop Prize in Verse as well as the 2011 Renee Duke Youth Award from Poets for Human Rights.

In November 2010, I founded The Adroit Journal, a literary magazine for all ages with a special leaning towards the work of young writers and global human rights issues. The journal has claimed over 1,300 submissions from writers and artists across the creative spectrum—from college students in New York City to retired farmers living on the Spanish coast. My staff, originally comprised of just myself, has expanded exponentially in conjunction with the rising popularity of the journal. A collection of 40 high school and college students currently work with me to evaluate submissions.  From Boston to Bangalore; Los Angeles to Greece; Hawaii to Hong Kong; and Mauritius to Oklahoma City, the writers of the next generation have united under the roof of The Adroit Journal.

Thus, I am pleased to announce the 2012 Adroit Prizes in Fiction and Verse, two brand new prizes offered by the journal specifically for young writers under the age of 22.  In this way, we hope to accommodate almost all high school and college students, and we encourage them to send their work (a maximum of three poems submitted separately or one short work of fiction) to us for consideration. All submissions will also be considered for publication in our Summer 2012 issue. For more information on how to submit your work, please visit: http://adroit.submishmash.com/submit.

We strive to receive the absolute best work from emerging young writers in high school and college. Thus, the student with the best work of fiction or verse between the ages of 14 and 21 will be awarded with either The 2012 Adroit Prize in Verse or Fiction!

Results will be posted on our website in early June. The two winners will be offered spots on the journal’s editorial staff for the next reading period, which is this summer.  Runners-up and Honorable Mentions might also receive offers to join the staff at the discretion of the judges.

Chloe Honum, currently a PhD student and the Helen Devitt Jones Fellow at Texas Tech University, is the judge for the 2012 Adroit Prize in Verse. For more information, visit: http://www.chloehonum.com.

Kirk Nesset, Professor of English and Creative Writing at Allegheny College, and author of two books of short stories, a book of translations, a nonfiction study, and a book of poems, is the judge for the 2012 Adroit Prize in Fiction. For more information, visit: http://kirknesset.com.

We look forward to receiving your work!