All entries for The Sosland Journal are through the Ilus W. Davis Writing Competition. One winner is chosen in each of three categories—Beginning (English 110), Intermediate (English 225), and Advanced (300/400-level writing intensive (WI) courses). The winner in each category is awarded a cash prize in addition to being published in print and online.
Entries are open to papers from any undergraduate writing intensive course in any discipline at UMKC (in addition to entries from our High School Composition Program competition). Make sure to include the course and instructor names for which the essay was written in the entry form.
Submissions for the 2023-2024 Ilus W. Davis Writing Competition are open. The deadline for submissions is May 31st at 5:00 PM.
Please email soslandjournal@umkc.edu with any questions.
Guidelines
- Submit all entries to the editors via our online form. The form requires that you sign in to Google using your UM-System credentials. Complete all information on the form and submit along with your entry. You may submit more than one essay, but submit a separate form for each manuscript you enter.
- Manuscripts should be double-spaced, typed, and follow a standard format such as MLA, APA, Chicago, etc. The title should appear on the first page and the page number should be in the header of each page.
- Include a separate title page that includes the author’s name, contact information, the course the paper was written for, and instructor’s name. The author’s name should appear nowhere else on the manuscript.
- Save your electronic submission in RTF or Microsoft Word format (either .doc or .docx). If you have diagrams or images in your document, please scan or save them using the highest possible resolution, save as a .jpg file, and attach them to the email along with your essay and entry form.
- Be sure your manuscript is edited for typing, grammatical, or any other errors that would hinder a close reading.