Teachers & Writers Collaborative

The Bechtel Prize

The Bechtel Prize is awarded annually in recognition of an exemplary article or essay related to:

• Creative writing education,
• Literary studies, and/or
• The profession of writing.

The winning essay appears in Teachers & Writers magazine, and the author receives a $2,500 honorarium. Honoraria totaling $1,000 are shared by the authors of entries selected as finalists for the Bechtel Prize, which may also be published in Teachers & Writers.

Possible topics for Bechtel Prize submissions include contemporary issues in classroom teaching, innovative approaches to teaching literary forms and genres, and the intersection between literature and imaginative writing. The previous winners of the Bechtel Prize can be found here.

Prospective entrants for the Bechtel Prize are encouraged to review a sample issue of Teachers & Writers to familiarize themselves with the magazine’s style. To order a sample issue of the magazine for $5.00, go here.

The receipt deadline for the 2008 Bechtel Prize is 5:00 PM (Eastern), Monday, June 30, 2008. Please refer to the submission guidelines below for additional information.

Support for the Bechtel Prize
To make a contribution to support the Bechtel Prize or Teachers & Writers magazine, please contact Loyal Miles, T&W director of development and marketing, at 212-691-6590, email.

2008 Bechtel Prize Submission Guidelines

1. Submissions should relate to creative writing education, literary studies, and/or the profession of writing.
2. Submissions must be previously unpublished and under 5,000 words in length.
3. Submissions must be typed, paginated, and double-spaced.
4. Submissions will be judged anonymously. The author’s name and address must not appear anywhere on the essay/article.
5. Two copies of the entry must be submitted. One copy should include a cover page with the following information: the author’s name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, the title of the submission, and where the author learned about the Bechtel Prize. The other copy should include a cover page with only the title.
6. Authors of the Bechtel Prize winner and finalists must permit Teachers & Writers Collaborative to publish their submissions in Teachers & Writers. Teachers & Writers Collaborative reserves the right to edit the submissions for publication.
7. Please mail entries to: The Bechtel Prize, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 520 Eighth Ave., Ste. 2020, New York, NY 10018.
8. There is no entry fee.
9. Submissions must be received by 5:00 PM (Eastern), Monday, June 30, 2008.
10. Submissions that do not conform to the above guidelines will not be reviewed for the Bechtel Prize. Submissions cannot be returned to the authors.

Questions regarding the Bechtel Prize submission guidelines should be directed to email.

2007 Bechtel Prize

Winner

Anna Sopko, San Francisco, CA, “Writing Standards: Finding One’s Way with Words”

Finalists

Sarah J. Gardner, Davenport, IA, “Three Writers, Imagination, and Meaning”

Jeff Kass, Ann Arbor, MI, “In Search of a True Word”

Cheryl Pallant, Richmond, VA, “Gifting Poems: Getting Students to Read Poetry Closely”

Barbara Roether, San Francisco, CA, “Pride and Prejudice on the Barbary Coast”

Read all the essays selected for the Bechtel Prize here.

Louise Bechtel and Support for the Bechtel Prize

The Bechtel Prize is endowed by the Cerimon Fund in honor of Louise Seaman Bechtel (1894-1985). Editor-critic, author, and teacher of young children, Bechtel was the first person to head a juvenile book department established by an American publishing house. During her fifteen-year tenure as managing editor at the Macmillan Company (1919-1934), Bechtel shepherded production of more than 600 new books, marking a milestone in the growth and development of American literature for children. “Louise Seaman Bechtel had a contagious conviction of the importance of books for children,” said her close contemporary Virginia Haviland.

A noted critic, Bechtel was the children’s book review editor for the New York Herald Tribune from 1949 to 1957, and a frequent contributor to the Saturday Review and the New York Times. During her long career, Bechtel also amassed an incomparable collection of children’s books. Her collection (later donated to Vassar College and the University of Florida) exceeded 3,500 volumes, among them rare folk tales; Asian and African legends; Greek mythology; Aesop’s fables; tales from Shakespeare; and the work of early 20th century book illustrators such as Arther Rackham, Kate Greenaway, and Boris Artzybasheff.