The Department of Physics and Astronomy will hold its second Astronomy Creative Writing Contest on Sunday, Oct. 13. Registration is open until Sunday, Oct. 6, and submissions are due Friday, Oct. 11.
Centered around the topic of astronomical phenomena, the contest is part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s initiative to host outreach activities alongside the monthly astronomy open house at Kennon Observatory.
The aim of these events is to encourage people from all backgrounds and ages — above six years old — to engage and learn about astronomy.
“We’ll also have some more activities together with (the astronomy open house) so that people learn about astronomy — not just see through the telescope,” UM Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy Anuradha Gupta said. Gupta is the organizer of the Astronomy Creative Writing Contest.
According to Gupta, people have submitted works on various astronomical mysteries and interests — with past submissions ranging from dark matter to visiting different planets and life on spaceships.
Participants may submit works in either the poetry category, with a 200 word limit, or in the short story category, which is restricted to 1,500 words.
Sophomore chemical engineering major Dylan Dexter’s piece entitled “The Birth of Venus” focuses on the comparison of art and science and was one of last year’s poetry section winners.
“I wrote it in a way so that it was both about the painting ‘The Birth of Venus’ and the actual creation of Venus (and) what we know scientifically,” Dexter said. “I tried to make it so it was almost indiscernible.”
Tess Graham, a library associate at the J.D. Williams Library, won last year’s short story category. Graham wrote “Monkeystang” — a story about her mustang horse of the same name. Monkeystang enjoys looking at the stars as he travels to different locations, something Graham drew inspiration from.
“I was just telling his story about how the first stars he would have seen in the range where he was born, the Alpha Centauri stars, and which stars he would have seen as he came east,” Graham said.
With the contest open to all ages, Gupta also hopes that people with this contest and other outreach activities will come back to continue with their engagement and curiosity with astronomy.
“We want people to engage (and) come again and again, especially for younger kids,” Gupta said. “Maybe they will take astronomy as their career in the later stage.”
Registration for the department’s creative writing contest is open until Sunday, Oct. 6, and the final deadline for submission of pieces is Friday, Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. The piece may be handwritten or typed and will be judged by a panel of graduate astronomy and English students.
Besides prestige and bragging rights, the winning writers can expect to take home physical prizes.
“The prizes include books, Lego sets, robot science kits, games, and Amazon gift cards depending on the age group,” Gupta said.
Writers are encouraged to present their submitted works on Sunday, Oct. 13, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Lewis Hall.
