to sixteen years, is in the market for stories and articles on any subjects that are of interest to active, healthy-minded boys. An occasional serial of from four to eight chapters is used. Stories should not exceed 2,500 words, and general articles should not exceed 1,000 words, shorter articles being preferred. Interesting photographs, with brief descriptions, are also used.

THE DRAMA-59 East Van Buren street, Chicago, prints articles, not exceeding 2,000

words, on the drama and the theatre, and is also glad to have pictures of significant productions or developments in the theatre world. The Drama does not pay for contributions. The title of the Dance Lovers' Magazine has been changed to the DANCE MAGAZINE 1926 Broadway, New York.

TELLING TALES-80 East Eleventh street, New York, discontinued publication with the issue for September.

CURTIS BROWN, LTD.- 116 West Thirtyninth street, New York, announces a second prize novel contest for a first novel by an American author, for which the sum of $17,500 will be paid jointly by the Pictorial Review, which will publish the novel serially; Dodd, Mead, & Co., who will publish the novel in book form; and the First National Pictures, which will film the novel. Manuscripts should contain not less than 70,000 words, nor more than 100,000; must be typewritten, on one side of the paper; bear a pen-name under the title; and be accompanied by return postage. The contest will close October 1, 1926. Further information may be obtained from Curtis Brown, Ltd. EDWARD J. CLODE, INC. — 156 Fifth avenue, New York, offers a prize of $2,500 for the best novel submitted by March 1, 1926. The novel may be of any type, and there are no restrictions, save that the story must be written in English. Grant Overton, fiction editor of Collier's, Harry Hansen, literary editor of the Chicago Daily News, and Mr. Clode himself will be the judges. The winning novel will be published May 1, and in addition to the prize the author will receive a liberal contract. Acceptable manuscripts not winning the prize will be published in the regular way. THE TRUE STORY MAGAZINE - 1926 Broadway, New York, offers three hundred and

eleven prizes amounting to $50,000 first prize, $5,000; second to sixth, $1,000 each; seventh to sixteenth, $500 each; seventeenth to thirty-sixth, $250 each; thirty-seventh to eighty-sixth, $150 each; and eighty-seventh to three hundred and eleventh, $100 each for true stories told in the first person stories of the human heart, about things that can and do happen, stories of struggle against tremendous odds, of success won through sacrifice, of failure rather than compromise with conscience, of endless devotion, boundless love, or of hate that burns and sears the soul. Manuscripts should be typewritten, although penwritten manuscripts on good paper will be read. Stories acceptable for immediate publication will be paid for at regular rates, without affecting the prize offer. The contest will close May 31, 1926.

THE NATIONAL BOARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERS - 76 William street, New York, offers a prize of $1,500 for a Fire Insurance scenario. The Board does not want a script designed to sell insurance policies, but one that will interpret the business in terms of human interest that anybody can understand. It believes that the story of fire insurance can be visualized effectively by means of the motion picture, and wants the best synopsis or outlined plot that will tell in not more than two reels an effective business romance inter

woven with the history and fundamentals of fire insurance. The plot may involve the activities of incendiaries, insurance taxation, rating difficulties, or other problems of the business, but the fiction must be based on fact and prepared as an effective synopsis. In addition to the prize, the Board retains the right to purchase for $500 one other of the scenarios submitted. It also reserves the right to make necessary changes, or to withhold the award if no satisfactory synopsis is received. THE DRAMA LEAGUE OF AMERICA - 59 East Van Buren street, Chicago, is conducting a First National Radio Play contest for WLS, Sears Roebuck Agricultural Foundation, Chicago, which offers a first prize of $500 and a trophy cup, a second prize of $200, and a third prize of $100, for the best plays received by February 1, 1926. The rules of the contest may be obtained from WLS, Care National Radio Play Contest Committee, Hotel Sherman, Chicago, to which address all manuscripts should be sent.

VANITY FAIR-19 West Forty-fourth street, New York, is offering prizes of $500, $300, and $200 for the best humorous essays submitted by college undergraduates before February 1.

THE DRAMA -59 East Van Buren street, Chicago, is offering $75 for a new cover design. The design should be somewhat conventionalized in treatment, calling for only one color of ink, and suggesting the field covered by the magazine, and the wording and title as they appear on the present cover should be retained.

THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP, an International Association of Christian Mystics Oceanside, Calif., offers prizes of $26, $15, and $10 for the best articles submitted for its magazine, Rays from the Rose Cross, by April 1, 1926. All articles are subject to modification to bring them within the requirements of the Fellowship's philosophy, and may be on any of the following subjects: Occult Philosophy - any phase of esoteric thought and its practical application; As

trology theoretical or practical; Health; and Scientific Diet. Occult stories and experiences are not available for this competition. Manuscripts must contain at least 2,500 words, and must be typewritten, and marked "Prize Competition," and the number of words must be stated.

HARPER'S MAGAZINE offers prizes of $500, $300, and $200 to the three undergraduate college students who, during the college year from November 1 to May 1, produce the best pieces of English prose-fiction, essays, or articles not exceeding 4,000 words. Manuscripts are to be entered by the heads of the English departments, and the contribution winning the first prize will be published in Harper's Magazine.

THE BALTIMORE BRANCH OF THE LEAGUE of AMERICAN PENWOMEN 105 West Franklin street, Baltimore, Maryland, offers prizes of $25 for the best short story and $10 for the best lyric poem, open only to women in Maryland. Manuscripts must be typewritten and unsigned, the author's name and address, with return postage, being enclosed in a sealed envelope. The contest will close April 1.

The Montreal Branch of the CANADIAN AUTHORS' ASSOCIATION announces a prize of $50 for the best one-act play submitted anonymously by February 1, 1926. The contest is open only to Canadian writers living in Canada, and manuscripts should be sent to Box 159, Station H, Montreal, Canada. The Committee on Educational and Religious Drama of the Federal Council of Churches has awarded the $500 prize for the best religious play of social significance to Rev. Marshall N. Gould, for "The Quest Divine." The prize of $50 offered by VOICES - 13 West Fifty-fourth street, New York, for the best poem printed in Volume IV of the magazine, has been awarded to Lew Sarett for his poem, "Let Me Go Down to Dust and Dreams."

THE BOOKSHOP FOR BOYS AND GIRLS Women's Educational and Industrial Union,

Boston, has awarded its prize of $100 for a good original play for children from eight to fourteen to Miss Nydia E. Minchin, for her play, "The Jester's Purse."

PRIZE OFFERS STILL OPEN

Prizes in Letters offered by the Columbia University School of Journalism: For the American novel published during the year which shall best present the wholesome atmosphere of American life and the highest standard of American manners and manhood, $1,000; for the original American play, performed in New York, which shall best represent the educational value and power of the stage in raising the standard of good morals, good taste, and good manners, $1,000; for the best book of the year on the history of the United States, $2,000; for the best American biography teaching patriotic and unselfish services to the people, illustrated by an eminent example, $1,000; for the best volume of verse published during the year by an American author, $1,000. Also, Prizes in Journalism, amounting to $3,000 and a $500 medal, and three traveling scholarships having a value of $1,500 each. All offered annually under the terms of the will of Joseph Pulitzer. Nominations of candidates must be made in writing on or before February 1 of each year, addressed to the Secretary of Columbia University, New York, on forms that may be obtained on application to the Secretary of the University.

Pasadena Prize Play contest for 1925-1926, with prizes of $300 for the best full evening play, and $100 for the best one-act play submitted by March 1. Particulars in October WRITER.

Hart, Schaffner, & Marx prizes of $1,000, $500, $300 and $200 for the four best studies in the economic field submitted by June 1, 1926. Particulars in November WRITER.

Prizes aggregating $9,500 offered by the SesquiCentennial Association of the Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition for musical compositions contests ending March 1 and April 1. Particulars in November WRITER.

Monthly prizes totalling $50 offered by Triple-X

Magazine for experiences of readers. Particulars in May WRITER.

Bookman prize amounting to $125 for the best humorous poetry appearing in the Fun Shop for the period from December 26 to May 1, 1926. Particulars in August WRITER.

Prize of $2,500 to be awarded in 1925 and every three years thereafter, and an annual prize of $300, offered by the Chicago Trust Company for the best contribution on any subject relating to business development and the modern trust company. Particulars in March WRITER.

Prize of $50 offered by the Harvard School of Education at Harvard University for an official song. Particulars in February, 1924, WRITER

Prize of $25 offered by the Harp (Larned, Kansas), for the best sonnet, or poem of no greater length than a sonnet, printed in the Harp before August, 1926.

The Canadian Bookman (125 Simcoe Street, Toronto, Canada) offers each month three prizes in a book review competition.

Annual poetry prize of $100 offered by the Nation, poems to be submitted between Thanksgiving Day and New Year's Day of each year. Particulars in February, 1923, WRITER.

Annual prize for senior and high school student poetry offered by Witter Bynner through the Scholastic (Pittsburgh, Penn.).

Prizes of the Poetry Society of South Carolina; Blindman Prize of $250; Southern Prize of $100; Society's Prize of $25; Henry E. Harmon Prize of $25; Sky Lark Prize of $10 all offered annually. Particulars in January, 1923, WRITER.

Monthly prizes offered by the Photo-Era Magazine (Wolfeboro, N. H.) for photographs, in an advanced competition and a beginner's competition.

Walker prizes for the best memoirs on Natural History, offered annually by the Boston Society of Natural History, closing March 1 of each calendar year. Particulars in June WRITER.

Monthly prizes of $25, $15, and $10 offered by the Triple-X Magazine for exciting personal experiences, accompanied by contributor's photograph for the Reader's Rodeo department.

VALMA CLARK, whose story, "Enter Eve," was published in Scribner's Magazine for November, is a graduate of the University of Rochester, and lives in Rochester, N. Y. After graduation from college, she taught high-school English for several years. Miss

Clark sold her first story to the old Hearst's Magazine, and then studied for one term at Columbia University, where Dr. Dorothy Scarborough's class in short-story writing helped her with story technique. She has been writing for six years now, and her stories have

appeared in Scribner's Magazine, Collier's, McCall's, the American Magazine, Ainslee's, Holland's, and other magazines. Most of her stories seem to fall naturally into small-town settings, although the French stories, of which "Enter Eve" is one of three in Scribner's, are a variation from this rule. The material for these stories was gathered from a trip abroad more than a year ago. Miss Clark writes for five or six hours a day, and says that of late her great difficulty has been in making her stories say all that she wants them to say in something under six thousand words, as the tendency of magazines seems to be toward shorter short-stories. "Enter Eve" was cut radically, at the suggestion of Mr. Bridges, the editor of Scribner's, and Miss Clark thinks it was improved by the cutting, since it was too light a story to carry so many thousand words.

HOMER KING GORDON, whose serial, "The Code of Men," began in Sunset for December, was born and brought up in Illinois. He was educated for a teacher, but a few years of school work made him dissatisfied with maps and history that somebody else helped make, and two years in the U.S. Air Service started him wandering. He now has a home in Berkeley, Calif., but his free time is spent on the mountains and desert trails of the great West. Mr. Gordon sold his first story to Robert H. Davis, editor of Munsey's Magazine, after several years of apprentice writing. "Code of Men" has as its main theme the chivalry and unselfish hospitality of the Southwest. It is a story of romance and adventure, and the characters in it are drawn from life. To make sure of several legal angles of the story, Mr. Gordon got a written opinion from a judge of the Supreme Court of California, and then, as the legal questions were concerned with water rights, he made doubly sure of these points by getting an opinion from the counsel of the largest Power corporation on the West Coast. Having definitely fixed the theme of "Code of Men," Mr. Gordon next made a rough sketch of the story plot, picking out the central characters about whom the story

would be told. These characters and the scenes of the story are actual composites of real people and real cattle ranges of the Southwest. Then the story was divided into episodes or chapters. A page of regular manuscript paper was headed with a brief synopsis of the plot development for each chapter. Then with all the printed authorities and expert advice that Mr. Gordon could get, he started with chapter one and wrote out in detail the plot skeleton of that chapter. At the bottom or on the back of the sheet he sketched the characters to be introduced in that chapter. Chapter two came next with every detail worked out and every character introduced given a name and a concise word picture. Each chapter was treated in the same way, and when the plot by chapters was completed, Mr. Gordon called in a few personal friends a newspaper reporter, an accountant, a real estate salesman, and a Berkeley business man. To them he read the story and explained the plot and characters. Then he invited them to pick the story to pieces, and with their advice reconstructed the chapters. When this was finished and the story stood "shot-proof" and satisfactory in detail, Mr. Gordon began the actual writing, and after the manuscript was finished took it to an editor friend and asked him to go over it and makes notes of any improbabilities, repetitions, or dull spots, and with these notes he made a final editing. Mr. Gordon does all of his work on a typewriter, revising each page with a pen as it is finished, and doing the same as he finishes each chapter. He writes in the afternoon or late at night, probably, he says, because his first writing was done on an afternoon newspaper. Noise does n't bother him, and he says that most of "Code of Men" was written with his radio accompanying his typewriter with jazz from the Palace or St. Francis hotels.

ESTHER CLARK HILL, who wrote the poem, "Red Sage," which was printed in the November McClure's, was born in Neosho County, Kansas, December 3, 1876, and Chanute in that county is still her home, although she

has lived for years in the shadow, as it were, of the Kansas State University at Lawrence, where she is employed. Miss Hill is the author of one book of poems, "The Call of Kansas and Later Verse," which contains most of the verse she has written. The initial poem, "The Call of Kansas," was written in California in 1907, and is now included in the Kansas school books. "Red Sage," Miss Hill says, is literal, and she adds: "I have the ground in Lawrence – on the University Heights, the spring, and the rugged hill. I shall plant the shrubs in the spring, I hope."

where the author got tired, turned back, and finished the story as best he could, without enlightenment."

ELIZABETH MACKINSTRY, whose poems and drawings appear in the August, September, October, and November issues of McClure's Magazine, is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, with a dash of French. As a child she showed great talent for the violin and was taken to Europe for training. This meant winters in Paris working hard at her music, and summer holidays in Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, and other romantic places. Miss MacKinstry had the faculty of making friends with people and could always wheedle a story from any one she met, so that she picked up stories everywhere, and her poetry and drawings are full of echoes of old folk legends and quaint bits of fairy lore from all over Europe. In her free time the little violinist turned naturally to drawing, and the Louvre became her playroom until, as she says herself, "I know it as one knows one's grandmother's house." Later on, she studied with Ysaye and became a concert violinist, but this had to be given up because of ill health, and she began to draw in earnest where before she had drawn for play. For a number of years she taught in the art schools of Buffalo and Detroit, all the time working to perfect her own art while teaching others. As for the poetry, Miss MacKinstrey says: "I read it first propped up on my music stand, because one reads while doing scales, and poetry went better than prose. Since giving up the violin I read it as one would read music, write it as one would play, because I like it. It is the music that is left. If art is my job, poetry is my passion." Some of Miss MacKinstrey's poems were published in England before the war in a volume, "Helen's Mirror," which has already become a collector's item. The poems now appearing in McClure's are from a volume called "Puck in Pasture," published by Doubleday, Page, & Co. in October. The collection includes many of her elfin poems, besides others which express the poet's own philosophy.

CLARKE KNOWLTON, whose story, "The Lost Story," came out in Scribner's for August, says that he was lucky enough to have his first short story, "The Apollo d'Oro," bought by Scribner's and published by them in April of last year. This story was on the honor roll of O'Brien's "Best Short Stories of 1924," has since been translated into Czeck and is to appear abroad. His story, "The Bridegroom," appeared in Scribner's for June, and several others from his pen will be published in later issues. Before the publication of "The Apollo d'Oro," Mr. Knowlton had had no fiction published, although articles from his pen had appeared in Architecture, the Nation, and other publications. Mr. Knowlton says he knows little about rules or methods of writing, and adds: "Writing comes through when one gets himself out of the way it seems to have very little to do with conscious effort. By this, I don't mean that there is not a lot of hard work, but usually the final result comes swiftly, clearly, and is best unaltered. There may have been earlier attempts to say the same thing, but I find it wiser to start over than to tinker with old manuscripts. Perhaps one has to write himself into an understanding of his subject, for characters have a way of walking way with the story leaving the author to catch up as best he can. If as in many cases seems to have happened the author never does catch up, the intelligent reader soon realizes the fact, and can often point to the exact spot