CU Boulder students and faculty: Center of the American West is accepting entries through March 20 for the 19th annual Thompson Awards for Western American Writing. 

The contest is open to all CU Boulder students at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Prizes are $500 in each of four categories: fiction, memoir, poetry and creative non-fiction. 

Enter your writing in any or all of the four categories. The writing should explore some aspect or issue of the American West, past, present or future. To name some examples: growing up in a Western town; visiting a Western place for the first time; indigenous people, culture and history; immigration; myth and stereotype in movies and books about Western people, places and events; ranching; prairie dogs; wolves; wild horses; water, dams and drought; tourism; energy development. 

Visit our website for details and the entry form and to read winning entries from past years. Contact us with your questions at academics@centerwest.org or 303-735-1399.