Erinda Sheno
Memorial Prizes
Vote That Jawn, ThePhiladelphiaCitizen.org, UPenn Creative Writing, and the Kelly Writers House are pleased to announce the inaugural Erinda Sheno Memorial Prizes, to be awarded to high school and college student-writers in Philadelphia. Honoring the legacy and work of Vote That Jawn Youth Leader, writer, and Philadelphian Erinda Sheno, the Sheno Prizes will recognize up-and-coming writers in Philadelphia for extraordinary pieces on voting, democracy, immigration, or Philadelphia life.
Two prizes will be awarded, one to a young writer enrolled in a Philadelphia high school, and one to a college student in the Philadelphia area. The high school division winner will receive a $150 honorarium and publication on the Vote That Jawn website; the college division winner will receive a $250 honorarium and publication on The Philadelphia Citizen’s website. Runners-up will also be able to publish work on Vote That Jawn’s website.
Submissions are due on February 7, 2025. Winners will be announced in late March.
Submission criteria
Erinda’s work was wide-ranging and innovative; successful submissions will embrace this spirit of free-thinking and creativity. We particularly encourage submissions that touch on the following themes: voting, democracy, immigration, and Philadelphia life.
For high school writers, submissions should be approximately 500 words. For the collegiate prize, submissions should not exceed 800 words. We look forward to reading your work!
About Erinda Sheno
The Sheno Prizes honor the life and legacy of Erinda Sheno. The daughter of Albanian-American immigrants, Erinda grew up here in Philadelphia. She attended the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush, where she majored in playwriting. Then, at the University of Pennsylvania, she studied English and Creative Writing where she also worked with Vote That Jawn, Kelly Writers’ House Fellow, and the Center for Contemporary Writing.
Like all Philadelphians, Erinda loved the Phillies and the Eagles, but her passion was writing. A talented writer and reporter, Erinda published in ThePhiladelphiaCitizen.org and on VoteThatJawn.com. Erinda worked the local territory: as a Youth Leader for Vote That Jawn, a Kelly Writers’ House Fellow, and a staffer at the Center for Contemporary Writing. Erinda was a brilliant writer committed to promoting justice and equality through her work on democracy and voting in Philadelphia. A first-generation American, Erinda was particularly committed to supporting immigrant communities in Philadelphia and beyond and telling the stories of her own family, who’d immigrated from Albania.