Darron L. Wright Awards Deadline is March 15, 2018

Darron L. Wright PHOTO: Line of Advance

Creators of the Chicago-based digital military-lit journal "Line of Advance" have recently called for submissions to the Third Annual Col. Darron L. Wright writing awards. The contest is named after a U.S. Army officer and author who served on three Iraq War deployments, who was killed in a stateside parachute training accident on Sept. 23, 2013. He was 45.

Line of Advance Editor Chris Lyke writes:

Thanks to a generous donation from the Blake and Bailey Foundation, Line of Advance is presenting the Col. Darron L. Wright Award. Like us, Darron Wright was a soldier: a larger than life infantry commander with several tours under his belt. And also like us, Col. Wright was a writer: a thoughtful, reflective artist, eager to tell the truth about his men with compassion and a commander’s eye. This award is presented in his name in an effort to honor his memory.

The contest is currently accepting both prose (category includes both fiction and non-fiction) and poetry. Deadline is March 15, 2018. Contest is open to military service members and veterans.

Three finalists will be named, with $250, $150, and $100 prizes each to be awarded. Submissions may be made via the journal's website here. Make sure to specify "contest" at the end of the title field.

According to a corresponding note on the publication's Facebook page, all contest submissions will be published on the website, and winners will be chosen by a panel of veteran and non-veteran writers and poets.

In addition to other assignments, Darron Wright served as battalion operations officer for 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo., with whom he deployed to Iraq from 2003 to 2004. Wright was next assigned as brigade executive officer with 4th Brigade, 4th Inf. Div., Fort Hood, Texas, with whom he deployed to Iraq from 2005 to 2006. He commanded the 1st Battalion, 509th Parachute Inf. Reg. at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La. in 2007. From 2009 to 2013, Wright was assigned as deputy brigade commander for the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Inf. Div., with whom he deployed to Iraq from 2009 to 2010.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval War College, Wright authored "Iraq Full Circle: From Shock and Awe to the Last Combat Patrol in Baghdad and Beyond." in 2012.

Wright's full biography appears here.

"Darron L. Wright was a larger than life Soldier’s Soldier. He was a physically imposing, direct, and skilled warrior," the Line of Advance editors write.

He was also witty, hilarious, generous, kind, and wholly consumed with love for his family. He will certainly be missed but he will never be forgotten. His intellectual curiosity, boundless optimism, and untiring work ethic, allowed him to reach heights he could only dream of as a young boy growing up in Mesquite, Texas. It is in this spirit that the Darron L. Wright Award was created, to inspire fellow military writers and poets to aspire to become better and more accomplished at their craft and at telling their story.

7th Veterans-Lit Anthology Deadline: June 1, 2018!

Deadline for submissions to a seventh volume titled "Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors"—an anthology of military-themed fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays, oral histories, and photography—is June 1, 2018. The project is open to all military personnel, veterans, and family members.

According to the call for submissions, each category carries a first-prize of $250. All entries will be considered for the anthology. There is no entry fee to the contest or publication.

Through the efforts of the Warriors Arts Alliance, the Missouri Humanities Council, and Southeast Missouri State University Press, the first "Proud to Be" volume was published in November 2012.

"[T]his series of anthologies preserves and shares the perspectives of our military and veterans of all conflicts and of their families," reads the Southeast Missouri State University Press contest page. "It is not only an outlet for artistic expression but also a document of the unique aspects of wartime in our nation’s history."

With second, third, and fourth issues, the press established itself as a leading venue for "veterans-lit," consistent in both quality and quantity. In 2014, the press also published "The Shape of our Faces No Longer Matters," a poetry collection by U.S. Marine veteran Gerardo "Tony" Mena.

The tradition of excellence continued with the fifth and sixth issues.

Red Bull Rising blog reviews of past issues of the "Proud to Be" anthology appear here and here.

For a 2012 Red Bull Rising interview with original series editor Susan Swartwout, click here.

Submissions must be made through the Southeast Missouri State University Press Submittable page here. According to guidelines:

• Put your name and contact info on first page and nowhere else on the manuscript.

• Limit one submission in each category per person.

• Poetry: up to 3 poems (5 pages maximum). Keep poems in one document (with 1st poem as title).

• Fiction, essay, or interview: 5,000-word limit.

• Photography: up to 3 good-quality photos (will be printed in the book as black and white).

• Submissions exceeding the limits will be disqualified.

• Include a biography of 75 words or less with each submission. Explicitly mention author's connection to military.

• Winners and contributors will be notified by Nov. 1, 2018.