Dates for Entry: November 10, 2024 - January 5, 2025 at Midnight ET
(or when a maximum of 60 entries have been received)

Date of Event: The Next-Level Live Seminar will take place on Monday, January 20, 2025 @ 8 pm-9 pm ET.

The Next-Level Writing Contest is a unique, feedback-based contest designed to teach writers how to refine their own decision-making process on the page, with the goal of becoming their own best editors. It is sponsored by Monthly Mentorship and judged by its director, author and educator Katey Schultz. As a former staff member at four different literary magazines, the editor of three fiction anthologies, and a writing teacher and mentor, Katey is invested in seeing writers move from the slush pile to the acceptance pile, and is eager to share what she has learned about coaching writers, based on her years of experience.

When entering this contest, writers will submit a 1500 to 2000-word excerpt or short selection of their writing, accompanied by a brief entry form that invites them to share more about their intentions for their writing submission, as well as any concerns they have about the piece. All entrants will receive confirmation that their excerpt and entry form were received, will be given access to the Next-Level Live Seminar event (on Zoom), and be introduced by email to a member of the Monthly Mentorship faculty to discuss their goals and needs as a writer. Winners will receive feedback from Katey, along with a $350 credit toward any program of Monthly Mentorship, or its sister organization, WRITEABILITY. Up to four winners will be selected.

This contest is for you if…

• You are unsure about what to leave in your writing and what to leave out, in order to get your work into its best possible shape for submission and publication.

• You are accustomed to receiving line-level feedback and workshopping your pieces, but often feel unclear about next steps after receiving this kind of feedback.

• You want to be able to take your drafts further on your own, rather than relying on critique groups, instructors, or editors to “fix” your work for you.

• You enjoy thinking about the creative process and would like to learn more about working with your imagination and deepening your craft.

The Prize

All entrants will have the opportunity to connect with a Monthly Mentorship Faculty member to discuss their goals and needs as a writer, and to be given suggestions about next best steps in their writing and editorial processes.

Katey Schultz is the author of Flashes of War, which the Daily Beast praised as an “ambitious and fearless” collection, and Still Come Home, a novel, both published by Loyola University Maryland. Honors for her work include North Carolina’s Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, the Linda Flowers Literary Award, Doris Betts Fiction Prize, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year award, gold and silver medals from the Military Writers Society of America, the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year award, five Pushcart nominations, a nomination to Best American Short Stories, National Indies Excellence recognition, and writing fellowships in eight states. She has taught all over the country—at Interlochen College of Creative Arts, Fishtrap, 49 Alaska Writing Center, StoryStudio Chicago, and her own organization Monthly Mentorship, among many others. She lives in Celo, North Carolina, and is the founder of both WRITEABILITY, a nonprofit in defense of the imagination, and Monthly Mentorship, an immersive 7-month online writing program.