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and
Botetourt County Historical Society
in partnership with
Homespun Legacy
We want to hear yours.
Second Place $50! Third Place $25!
on a summer afternoon; how you met your spouse; your vacation stories, pet stories, holiday
stories, military stories. We want to hear your perspective on what life was like where you
were growing up. Compare and contrast today's world with the life you knew at 10 years of
age, at 20, at 30. Where were you doing during the great events of national history?
We are not looking for a fancy literary essay or a college paper. We want your words, your
language and turn of phrase. Paint us a picture; don't be stingy with details. Set the scene
vividly and describe your characters. Provide us with a frame of reference: a date or era.
An account of the personal experiences of
an author.
American Heritage Dictionary
The thesaurus relates memoir as: journal,
reminiscences, confession, life story,
diary, profile.
particular front porch from your childhood.
Contest Rules: Must be 21 or older to enter. Story must be based in southwest Virginia AND the writer
must have lived or have ties to southwest Virginia. Entries must be at least 500 words and no more than
1,500 words, and of a memoir nature. Entries greater than 1,500 words or those not adhering to the
theme will be disqualified. Count every word except the title. You may enter as many stories as you have
time to write. Each entry must be accompanied by the $5.00 entry fee (check or money order payable to
Homespun Legacy). Entries must be postmarked between April 20 and May 31, 2008. Your entry must be
typed on one side only of 8½ x 11 white paper, double-spaced, with the title on the first page. DO NOT
include your name or contact information on the first page. Include a separate cover sheet with your
name, the title of your story, telephone number, email address and word count. Please staple your pages
together. First place winners are asked to be on the judging panel for next year's contest.
Judging: Judges’ decision is final. Judging criteria includes both creativity and adherence to rules of
formatting. Your 'story' must be a story. Stories must have a clear narrative thread and defined
characters. (Be sure your tale has a beginning, middle and end.) Be liberal with details when describing
characters and place. All entries become eligible for publication without remuneration in a memoir
anthology to be donated to the Genealogy Room of the Fincastle Library, displayed at Homespun Legacy
workshops and available for limited sale to contest participants. Winning entries may be published at the
sponsors' discretion in local print media.
Winners will be announced at a Writers' Reception and Reading at the June 2008 meeting of the
Botetourt Genealogy Club and posted on this webpage.
more like a story.
Memoirs share stories of one's self and
experiences.
A memoir is factual from the perspective of
the author's personal truth.
Botetourt Genealogy Club, July 18, at the Fincastle library, 19 Academy St., Fincastle.
The First Place cash prize of $100 was awarded to Pat Deel of Cloverdale for her entry ”My Most
Memorable Day in School" which described her last day of school in the seventh grade of Cloverdale
School. The Second Place winner was Virginia Kinzie Visser, Troutville, for her memoir “The Pollyanna
Day”, a story from her school days at Troutville Elementary in the 1940's. The Third Place cash prize went
to Barbara Diehl, Eagle Rock, for her story “The Talent Show” which related the memorable day at Asbury
School involving her talent with bubble gum.
Because this was a memoir-writing contest, the judges' panel considered the personal nature of the stories
submitted as well as creativity. They were looking for personal perspectives on life events with details
including character, place and time descriptions.
The Club’s third annual regional lifewriting contest was sponsored in partnership with the Botetourt
County Historical Society and Homespun Legacy, a Botetourt-based personal history writing business. The
contest coincided with Personal History Awareness Month in May to promote the writing of personal
histories. A memoir anthology of the eligible entries will be developed at a later date and donated to the
Genealogy Room of the Fincastle library.
The 2008 Lifewriting Contest theme is "Front Porches." Your story must include a particular front porch
from your childhood. Information and contest rules for next year's contest can be found at Homespun
Legacy’s website at www.HomespunLegacy.com, the Botetourt Genealogy website at
www.geocities.com/gen01, or by calling Susan Mason at 540-473-3998.
