Undergraduates of any major are invited to submit an original, unpublished written work for a new writing contest started by award-winning poet and rapper and UOG alumni Meta Sarmiento. The Minda Reglos Writing Prize will award first-, second-, and third-place cash prizes to the winning writers as determined by a panel of UOG alumni.

Minda Reglos was Sarmiento’s sixth grade language arts teacher at VSA Benavente Middle School. She was the first person to ever encourage him to become a writer. The prize seeks to honor her memory and continue the legacy of encouraging young writers to dream, grow, and pursue literary aspirations.

How to submit

Contest participants must be undergraduate students at the University of Guam. Work submitted should be the writer’s original, unpublished work. No co-authored pieces are allowed. Students may submit poetry, spoken word, fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, or screenwriting.

Submissions will be accepted from Feb. 1 to March 22 at www.reachmeta.com/reglosprizes2019.

The prize amounts are $300 for first place, $175 for second place, and $150 for third place.

Judging process

All submissions will go through a blind review. The judges are Sarmiento, Verna Zafra-Kasala, and Carlos Anderson, all three of whom graduated from John F. Kennedy High School and attended classes at the University of Guam.

"I asked Verna and Carlos to be co-judges because I value their insight and highly respect their abilities,” Sarmiento said. “Since high school, we were always creating spaces for us to discuss craft and critique each other's work. A decade later we're getting our work in front of international audiences. We never abandoned our passions, never gave up on refining our voices. As writers, we know we have a long way to go, but we hope this prize helps younger writers continue their journeys too."

For further comments or questions, please contact the judges directly:

Meta  Sarmiento: reach.meta@gmail.com
Verna Zafra-Kasala: verna_zafra@yahoo.com

Carlos Anderson: losanderson11@gmail.com

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About the Judges

Meta Sarmiento holds a bachelor’s in English literature and a master’s in teaching from the University of Guam. He is a TEDx Speaker, a Top 12 Finisher at WRLD UNDERGROUND MC Tournament 2018, and a winner of Spoken Word for the World 2015, where he was flown to Paris to perform during the United Nations Climate Negotiations.

Verna Zafra-Kasala holds a bachelor’s in English literature with a minor in nutrition and a master’s in English from the University of Guam. She is an instructor of English and critical thinking at UOG. Verna is a finalist in Fear No Lit’s 2017 Submerging Writer Fellowship and is published in Tayo Literary Magazine, Spirit's Tincture, and Grub Street Literary Magazine, among others.

Carlos Anderson is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s in philosophy. He is published in the college literary magazine 3 to 4 Ounces, is a second-place winner in the Avar Press Literary Essay Contest 2012, and is a fellow for the 2016 CAPE New Writers Fellowship for his screenwriting.