man that they fell in love w i t h each oth e
poor Cousin Eliza had to stay there with him. Dear mama often said she considered it a most touching proof of woman's willingness to sacrifice herself—for there's no doubt it must have been very hard on poor Cousin Eliza. She was born and raised right here in Appleboro, you see." Do not think that Miss Sally Ruth was anything but most transparently sincere in thus sympathizing with the sad fate of poor Cousin Eliza, who was born and raised in Appleboro, South Carolina, and yet sacrificed herself by dragging out thirty years of exile in the court circles of Vienna! Any trueborn Appleboron would be equally sorry for Cousin Eliza for the same reason that Miss Sally Ruth was. Get yourself born in South Carolina and you will comprehend. "What did you see in your travels that you liked most?" I was curious to discover from an estimable citizen who had spent a summer abroad. "Why, General Lee's standin' statue in the Capitol an' his recumbent figure in Washington an' Lee chapel, of co'se!" said the colonel promptly. "An' listen hyuh, Father De Rancé, I certainly needed him
o u r monument to their names!" They haven't. And I should hate to think that any Confederate living or dead ever even remotely resembled the gray granite one on our monument. He is a brigandish and bearded person in a foraging cap, leaning forward to rest himself on his gun. His long skirted coat is buckled tightly about his waist to form a neat bustle effect in the back, and the solidity of his granite shoes and the fell rigidity of his granite breeches are such as make the esthetic shudder; one has to admit that as a work of art he is almost as bad as the statues cluttering New York City. But in Appleboro folks are not critical; they see him not with the eyes of art but with the deeper vision of the heart. He stands for something that is gone on the wind and the names he guards are our names. This is not irrelevant. It is merely to explain something that is inherent in the living spirit of all South Carolina; wherefore it
this, life in South Carolina sometimes retains a simplicity as fine and sincere as it is charming. I deplore the necessity, but I will be pardoned if I pause here to become somewhat personal, to explain who and what I am and how I came to be a pastor in Appleboro. To explain myself, then, I shall have to go back to a spring morning long ago, when I was not a poor parish priest, no, nor ever dreamed of becoming one, but was young Armand De Rancé, a flower-crowned and singing pagan, holding up to the morning sun the chalice of spring; joyous because I was of a perishable beauty, dazzled because life gave me so much, proud of an old and honored name, secure in ancestral wealth, loving laughter so much that I looked with the r a i s e d eyebrow and the twisted lip at austerities a n d praye r
weak? who is offended and I burn not?" And yet, although I knew my decision was irrevocable, I did not find it easy to tell my mother. Then: "Little mother of my heart," I blurted, "my career is decided. I have been called. I am for the Church." We were in her pleasant morning room, a beautiful room, and the lace curtains were pushed aside to allow free ingress of air and sunlight. Between the windows hung two objects my mother most greatly cherished—one an enameled Petitot miniature, gold-framed, of a man in the flower of his youth. His hair, beautiful as the hair of Absalom, falls about his haughty, high-bred face, and so magnificently is he clothed that when I was a child I used to associate him in my mind with those "captains and rulers, clothed most gorgeously, all of them desirable young men, ... girdled with a girdle upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to" ... whom Aholibah "doted upon when her eyes saw them portrayed upon the walls in vermilion." The other is an Audran engraving of that same man grown old and stripped of beauty and of glory, as the leaf that falls and the flower that fades. The somber habit of an order has replaced scarlet and gold; and sackcloth, satin. Between the two pictures hangs an old crucifix. For
Literary C MPETITION
was to go a-Maying with her who had ever been as m y own soul, since we w e r e children playing together. So I rode off to her home, an old house set in its walled inclosure by the
h i s fellow men, in the open, is there not?" At that she kissed me. Not a whimper, although I am an only son and the name dies with me, the old name of which she was so beautifully proud! She had hoped to see my son wear my
ADULT COMPETITION
The 18th Annual Literary Competition is open to all artists in the Southeast United States. The short story and poetry competitions are open to any subject. All submissions must be the unpublished, original work of the artist. Rights remain with the artist. Artists must be 18 or older and must not be enrolled in a K-12 program. Students enrolled in a K-12 program may enter the 10th Annual Youth Literary Competition. FEES Arts Council Members - $10 per entry | Non-Members - $15 per entry These fees are non-refundable. Please make checks payable to the Arts Council of York County. AWARDS Monetary awards will be issued for each category, poetry and short story. 1st Place $125 2nd Place $75 3rd Place $50 Only one prize per artist, per category will be awarded. Authors are permitted to enter both categories and entries are eligible to win an award in each competition, however, there are no repeat prizewinners within the categories each year.
GUIDELINES
For all entries, whether in the poetry or short story category, artists must submit six (6) typed, formatted hard copies of each entry (including the title) for distribution to judges. The Arts Council is unable to print copies of entries. No entries will be returned. Submissions must be double-spaced and in 12 point, Times New Roman font and must include auto-indents to paragraphs. (Spacing requirements do not apply to submissions classified as poetry, as the poet will retain creative license over formatting.) Each copy must be printed single-sided. If an entry is multiple pages, please staple or clip the pages of each entry together. The writer’s name and/or photo must not appear on the manuscript. All participants are invited to a public reading and awards ceremony held at the Center for the Arts on Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 5:30 PM. An online magazine will be created from the winning entries submitted to the competition for publication in November of 2021. If you receive notification that your work has been selected for an award, an electronic copy of your work must be submitted for inclusion in the Cotton Alley Writers’ Review. The submitted electronic copy must be a final, edited version of the selected work. The Arts Council will not make any changes to your digital submission prior to
or after publication. Electronic copies of selected works must be emailed in the form of a Microsoft Word document to jarmstrong@yorkcountyarts.org. Winners who do not submit an electronic copy will not be published in the online magazine. POETRY Entries may not exceed 100 lines. For poems of the stanza, haiku, or sonnet variety, please use 12 point, Times New Roman font. If visual formatting is important to your piece of poetry please submit in clearly readable font and size. SHORT STORY Entries may not exceed 6,000 words. Stories must be double spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font, with auto-indented paragraphs.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS ENTRY DEADLINE Friday | August 27, 2021 | 5 PM
Please note that this is NOT a postmark deadline. Any entries that arrive by mail after this date will not be accepted.
PUBLIC READING & AWARDS CEREMONY Thursday | November 4, 2021 | 5:30 PM Center for the Arts | 121 East Main Street | Rock Hill, SC 29730
SUBMIT ENTRIES
BY MAIL: Arts Council of York County Literary Competition PO Box 2797 | Rock Hill, SC 29732 IN PERSON: Center for the Arts 121 E. Main St. | Rock Hill, SC 29730 Entries will NOT be accepted via email. Please complete the attached registration form in order for your entry to be considered valid. The Arts Council of York County reserves the right to withdraw an entry from the judging process that does not meet guidelines or is deemed inappropriate for any reason. The judges reserve the right to not award in any category
REGISTRATION | ADULT
18TH ANNUAL LITERARY COMPETITION
Complete the form below and submit it to the Arts Council with entries. Please print clearly. Entries will not be accepted without a completed form and signature. AGREEMENT Submission of my application and literary entries shall constitute my agreement to comply with all conditions and terms set forth in this application. I understand that all decisions by the ACYC and the juror are final. I release and discharge the ACYC and its staff from any and all claims. Signature Date CONTACT Name Address Email Phone FEES Non-Refundable Entry Fee made payable to the Arts Council of York County Arts Council Member - $10 per entry | Non-Member - $15 per entry Number of entries: Payment included: $
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ENTRIES ENTRY 1: Title Line/Word Count ENTRY 2: Title Line/Word Count ENTRY 3: Title Line/Word Count ENTRY 4: Title Line/Word Count ENTRY 5: Title Line/Word Count For additional entries, use blank sheet of paper and include all above information for each entry. Please include the line count for poems and word count for short stories. QUESTIONS Please contact Jesslyn Armstrong | jarmstrong@yorkcountyarts.org or (803) 328-2787.