The competition is open for entries: fiction, non-fiction, poetry. The conference workshop leaders have all signed on: writers, poets, teachers of the craft they love. The panelists have been chosen: a publisher, a book designer, a professor well versed in the art of the query letter. The keynote speakers have it on their calendar: a children’s book author and her illustrator, an award-winning literary team.

It’s all part of the 2014 Pamlico Writers Conference & Competition. Sponsored by the Beaufort County Arts Council and the Pamlico Writers Group, the event was widely hailed as a success by last year’s participants. The 2014 conference is slated for March 8 at the Washington Civic Center, a daylong event for aspiring and experienced writers.

While the conference is still several months ahead, the writing competition is in full swing right now. On Nov. 1, the competition opened to submissions from writers near and far. Work can be entered in five categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young adult and high school. A $10 reading fee applies to each prose entry and each entry of up to three poems. The high school category is free to any high school student entering their work in the competition. In each category, the payoff for first-place winners is $100, plus their story printed in The Washington Magazine. Second-place entries are awarded $50, but it’s the high school students who have a chance to win big: a $500 scholarship.  Deadline for entries is Feb. 23.

For Doris Schneider, head of the conference steering committee, the competition and conference represent an opportunity to tap into, and develop, the local writing community.

“There are so many writers here,” Schneider said. “I would love to know how many there are that are closet writers that have not joined writing groups.”

But Schneider says writing in a vacuum is not all it’s cracked up to be —encouragement and feedback from peers is a great motivator.

“If it’s convenient and local, they might find out about our writers groups and open themselves up for that adventure,” she said.

Schneider said this year, organizers have really reached out to the schools to draw in more high school participants, sending fliers to 24 different high school in surrounding counties.

“With the high school competition, we’re encouraging young people to write and to get recognition for their writing,” Schneider explained.

The theme of the March conference is the art and craft of writing, with special focus on editing — and the need for a good editor.

“We have so many writers who are hobbyists and so many who are serious, but all of them want to be published,” Schneider said. “We want to help them find legitimate routes to help them get published, whether they do it themselves or seek out a publisher.”

To that end, the conference schedule is packed with experts on a variety of subjects. A morning panel discussion will feature three authorities in North Carolina publishing: Dave Wofford, book designer and owner of Horse and Buggy Press in Durham; poet and publisher Richard Krawiec, with Jacar Press, also in Durham; and ECU professor and writer Liza Wieland, who will speak about finding an agent and how to write the perfect query letter.

Conference participants have a choice of one morning session to attend out of three, all of which will pursue the finer points of writing’s art and craft. Sessions will be led by Lisa Williams Kline, winner of the North Carolina Juvenile Literature award, who will touch on the process of writing a series of novels; Marni Graff, author of the Nora Tierney mystery series; and poet Stephanie Levine.

Keynote speakers Suzanne Tate and James Melvin, a writing duo of children’s books, will speak between morning and afternoon breakaway sessions.

“She is a children’s books writer and he is her illustrator. They’ve worked together for many years,” Schneider said. “I’m hoping they will bring in an extra group of people who are interested in writing for children. Her work has won awards and has been used in the public schools.”

Afternoon workshops will feature poet Peter Makuck, Distinguished Professor emeritus Professor of English at East Carolina University; Nancy Peacock, non-fiction author of “A Broom of One’s Own;” and ECU professor Luke Whisnant, who will address the art of flash fiction, a reduction in words and thoughts that may very well turn prose into poetry. Makuck will ask participants in his session to send in poetry ahead of time, so discussion will revolve around their work, Schneider said.

The conference will wrap up with a reception and announcement of competition winners. Schneider encourages all writers interested in attending to register early, that way the choice of workshops will be assured.

The cost is $49 per person for the conference, but the information to be found there is invaluable to writers, according to Schneider.

“That’s the purpose of these sessions: is to get people the information to help them be a better writer and to help them get published,” she said.

For more information about the Pamlico Writers Conference & Competition and its presenters visit the blog site at Pamlicowritersgroup.wordpress.org. To register for the conference or enter the competition, visit the Pamlicowritersconference.org website.