The Contest

The Post and Courier

The S.C. Fiction Project has supported the state's writers for the past 24 years and again this year is showcasing 12 of the Palmetto State's best.

From 1984 to 1991, the S.C. Arts Commission, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, co-sponsored the contest with The State newspaper and began its partnership with The Post and Courier in 1992.

Through the years, more than 275 creative writers have received cash awards and their work has been published by these newspapers. Many of these writers have since published widely, receiving regional and national awards in addition to the Arts Commission's Literature Fellowships.

Fiction Project judges have included a distinguished panel of writers, including Blanche McCrary Boyd, Alan Cheuse, Josephine Humphreys, Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones, Faye Moskowitz, Gloria Naylor and Valerie Sayers.

In 2001, the S.C. Arts Commission and the Hub City Writers Project collaborated to publish "Inheritance: Selections from the S.C. Fiction Project." Edited by Janette Turner Hospital, distinguished writer-in-residence at the University of South Carolina, the collection includes 36 stories from more than 200 winners between 1984 and 2000. The anthology can be purchased in local bookstores or through Hub City's Web site (www.webcity.org). "Inheritance" is also available at libraries throughout the state, thanks to the South Carolina State Library.

For information about the S.C. Fiction Project, contact Sara June Goldstein, director of Literary Arts at the S.C. Arts Commission in Columbia: 803-734-8694 or SGoldstein@arts.sc.gov.

The Arts Commission, a state agency, is charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the commission focuses on increasing public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina and by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit www.southcarolinaarts.com or call 803-734-8696.