March 19 is the deadline for a chance to win $500 in the 20th annual Thompson Writing Awards.

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

Enter your writing in any or all of the categories. Your work may touch on any theme relevant to 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; Native American history; immigration; mining; public lands; myth and stereotype in movies and books about the West; ranching; prairie dogs; wolves; wild horses; wild fires; water, dams and drought; tourism.

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