Two Writing Opportunities for Taglit-Birthright Israel Alumni

If you're a writer who is also a Taglit-Birthright Israel alum, you are in luck! There are two current opportunities you should know about.

First: the Fall 2009 Alumni Essay Contest. It's actually open to poems, too. The contest theme is "Celebrating Ten Years: What Taglit-Birthright Israel Has Meant to Me." Two first prizes of round trip flights to Israel will be awarded, with multiple second and third prizes of $300 and $150 Amazon.com gift certificates, respectively. Deadline: September 18, 2009.

Next: Birthright Israel NEXT and Nextbook Inc. invite submissions for a literary anthology written by Taglit-Birthright Israel trip alumni. "The book, to be published in 2011 by The Toby Press, will focus on the experiences you had on the trip, and afterword. It will include many types of content, from essays and poems to graphic art and photographs. What all the pieces will have in common is that they'll be created by Birthright Israel alumni like you, and they'll focus on how the trip has changed you." I do wish the call for submissions included information on the compensation to be offered selected writers, but so far, I don't see any. Submissions will be accepted soon (a link is coming), and should be sent before December 15, 2009.