Calling all writers, artists, poets and comic illustrators: the submission deadline for the Red Wheelbarrow competition is Friday, at 11:59 p.m.

Red Wheelbarrow is De Anza College’s student literary magazine that has been around for over 30 years, formerly called Bottomfish.

Every spring, EWRT 65 and JOUR 65 students work to edit and publish the best creative writing and art that De Anza students have to offer.

“Making a carefully edited, perfect-bound book like that from start to finish in one quarter is an exciting process,” said Red Wheelbarrow faculty adviser Ken Weisner.

Red Wheelbarrow also produces a national edition put together by fall and winter quarter students. The 2009 edition has already been nominated for five Pushcart prizes, literary prizes for entries published in small presses.

Last year, over 100 students submitted several hundred works. Submissions are chosen anonymously based on quality. Prizes are judged by outside judges, except for the Carolyn Keen award, which is judged by De Anza faculty for the best essay about a work of literature by students. Winners of the Carolyn Keen award are published in the spring edition. Prizes include cash prizes for first, second and third place. Honorable mentions are given out as well.

Previous winners include Lauren Catron, who won the Red Wheelbarrow award last year for her poem “Canyon Land” and won an honorable mention in the National Competition sponsored by the League of Innovation. “Canyon Land” was also published in Wordscapes, an annual anthology of prizewinners.

“Falling from the Sky,” a story about Sept. 11, by Jennie Reynolds, “New Chapter in Human Rights,” a creative non-fiction by Violet Thornton, and poems by Malaya Arevalo have all won Red Wheelbarrow awards and are now entered in the national competition.

Awards will be presented during a publication reading and celebration on Wednesday June 23 at 6:15 p.m. in the WRC (ATC 309).