CLEARWATER - The Clearwater Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, Inc., invites women writers and artists to enter the branch's 2006 contest. Last year's writing contest attracted almost 500 entries from more than 15 women from the Tampa Bay area. Cash prizes and certificates were awarded.
"This year we wanted to include a contest for artists as well," said branch president Anne Anderson. "The League consists of professional women writers, artists, and composers, so this is appropriate to our purposes."
In 1897, before women could vote in national elections, a group of women journalists, authors, and illustrators banded together in Washington, D.C., to promote their professions. Led by journalists Marion Longfellow O'Donoghue, Washington Post social editor Anna Sanborn Hamilton, and Margaret Sullivan Burke, the first woman admitted to the Congressional Press Gallery, the women founded the League of American Pen Women.
More than a hundred years later, the league has evolved into the National League of American Pen Women and includes artists, writers, and composers from across the country working in many fields. The Clearwater branch encompasses all of Pinellas and Pasco counties.
Official rules and an entry form are available by mailing a business-sized self-addressed stamped envelope to: Clearwater NLAPW, P.O. Box 934, Safety Harbor, FL 34695-0934 or by e-mailing ClearwaterNLAPW@aol.com. The deadline for entries is September 30, 2006.