Sharpen your pencils and fire up your word processors: The state’s longest-running and largest literary contest is seeking new fiction and poetry from Wisconsin writers. The annual Wisconsin People & Ideas Fiction and Poetry Contest will accept previously unpublished submissions through March 15.

Winners in both contests will receive prizes between $500 and $100, will have their works published in the quarterly Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine, and will be invited to read their masterworks at the Wisconsin Book Festival. Even better, first-place winners in both the fiction and poetry categories will receive one-week writers’ residencies at Shake Rag Center for the Arts in Mineral Point -- a picturesque, history place to settle in and focus on their writing.

To be eligible to enter, writers must be at least 18 years old and must reside in (or attend school in) Wisconsin. Fiction submissions must be between 2,500 and 5,000 words, while poets may submit as many as three original poems, none longer than one page.

For complete rules and submission guidelines, visit wisconsinacademy.org/content/writing-contests.