DENTON, Texas (UNT) -- Claire Vaye Watkins will judge the 2017 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction, a writing contest hosted by the University of North Texas. Watkins is the author of Gold Fame Citrusand Battleborn, which won her the Story Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. She also was recently a guest of UNT's Visiting Writers Series.

Writers had to submit their short stories by June 30 to be considered for the 20th annual Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. The winner will be announced in January 2017 and will receive $1,000 and publication by the UNT Press.

UNT Press also sponsors a poetry contest every year - the Vassar Miller Prize. Entries will be accepted September 1-October 31. For more information, visit the Vasser Miller Prize entry page here.