Murphy Writing of Stockton University

NOTE: The Paul-Victor Winters Memorial Creative Writing Contest will pause and return in a future year. Join our email list to stay in the loop. Last year’s information is below.

Murphy Writing of Stockton University is proud to offer a creative writing contest for talented NJ high school writers in honor of Paul-Victor Winters.

Winners

Congratulations to our 2025 winners! 

Thanks to all who submitted. Paul-Victor would have been proud of you.

Contest Guidelines

The 2025 contest has ended. See winners above.

No entry fee is required.

To enter, you must be a high school student (grades 9-12) in NJ as of Oct. 1, 2024. Any NJ high school student in private or public schools, grades 9-12, may enter the contest. Students must submit the name of their high school and a valid NJ address on the submission form when they submit their work.

In each category, Flash Fiction and Poetry, there will be a selection of first, second, and third prizes. First prize winners will receive $400, second prize winners will receive $150, and third prize winners will receive $50. Entering the contest does not guarantee that the entry will receive an award.

Flash Fiction should be between 400 words and 1500 words and be the writer’s own original, unpublished work. Poems should be no more than 50 lines long and should be the writer’s own original, unpublished work.

All entries must be in 12-point Times New Roman font, with one-inch margins and page numbers. Poetry must be single-spaced. Fiction must be double-spaced. No name or other identifying information should appear in the text of the story or poem itself. If a name or address is present on the document, that work will be disqualified.

All entries must be uploaded as PDF documents.

You may submit only one piece of work in each category.

Winners retain copyrights for their creative work.

Winners will need to have a parent or guardian sign a consent form before Murphy Writing of Stockton University can announce winners.

By submitting to this contest, you agree to allow the judges to read and judge your work. Judges will not know the identities of the authors whose work they are reading. Stories and poems will be judged on the basis of literary merit and originality, according to the discretion and considered assessment of each judge. 

Submit Your Work

The 2025 contest has ended. See winners above.

You must be logged in to a Google account to access the submission form. You will need to create a free account if you don’t already have one.

About Paul-Victor Winters

Our friend Paul-Victor Winters was a poet and secondary educator in southern New Jersey, where his classroom provided a safe haven to many students year after year. He received his MFA from The University of Indiana at Bloomington. Former poet laureate Billy Collins called his chapbook, Muscle & Bone, “a mesmerizing first collection of poems spoken in a voice at once alert and dreamy, nervy and vulnerable, tentative and flighty.”

Paul-Victor died in 2020.

Previous Winners

Congratulations to our winners from previous years: