Landscape by Jerry Alexander  

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS

Constitution of the Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers

As amended at the 2003 Business Meeting of TACWT

  1. Purpose of Association:
    1. To foster communication among writers, editors, teachers and publishers, and appreciation of the quality work being written in Texas or by Texans.
    2. To encourage and improve the teaching of creative writing through the reading of papers on writing and teaching techniques.
    3. To promote serious writing throughout the state by encouraging readings by writers and publication of their works.
    4. To publish a newsletter that will publicize information about writing activities and about publications by Texans.
    5. To hold an annual meeting that will include allotted time for a reading by writers, whereby writers can know and appreciate each other's works.
    6. To act as coordinator and disseminator of dates for appearances of authors.

  2. Membership:
    1. Membership in TACWT is open to teachers of Creative Writing, to other interested teachers, to professional writers, editors, and to college students who are interested in teaching Creative Writing and in promoting serious fiction and poetry in Texas.
    2. All members have full voting privileges.

  3. Offices:
    1. President, elected by the membership to a two-year term, is in general charge of all activities of the organization. The president appoints both the Local Arrangements Chairman and the Publicity Chairman. The President also appoints Ad Hoc committees, including the Executive Committee, as such committees can serve the organization. Before the presentations of the annual program are publicized, the president must have the concurrence of the Local; Arrangements Chairman concerning these presentations. The president is to conduct the meetings of TACWT in an informal manner. Should parliamentary problems arise, Robert's Rules of Order is to be used as a guide.
    2. Local Arrangements Chairman, appointed by the President to a one-year term, is with the host institution for the annual meeting. The Local Arrangements Chairman is responsible for managing arrangements at the host institution. The Local Arrangements Chairman must approve the schedule before publicity about the program is released.
    3. Publicity Chairman, appointed by the President to a one-year term, is in charge of publicizing the annual meeting, its program and participants, and other matters of interest to TACWT members. The Publicity Chairman also works to disseminate news releases received from the membership, especially such releases as promote serious writing and writing activities throughout the state. The Publicity Chairman will ordinarily be chosen from an institution compatibly located for the Chairman's working with elective and appointive officers of TACWT.
    4. Editor of the Newsletter and Treasurer-three-year term is in charge of editing the newsletters, keeping a membership list and keeping the finances.
    5. The Secretary, elected by the membership, serves a three-year term. The Secretary takes minutes at the annual meeting and assists the President in business matters.
    6. A board of four directors elected by the membership will serve three years of staggered terms. Present officers and the immediate past president will serve as ex-officio members of the board. The board will advise the membership on concerns of the organization, fill vacancies occurring in the unexpired terms of officers, and make decisions throughout the year necessary for the ongoing life of the organization.
    7. Election of the President, Secretary, and Treasurer/Newsletter editor will be by a simple majority of the ballots cast by TACWT members.
    8. Officers are nominated by the Nomination Committee. The list of nominees is to be available to the members of TACWT by February 1.

  4. Annual Meeting

    Annual meetings of TACWT are held in February or March at various colleges and universities throughout the state, and attention to electing locations that are convenient and attractive is important. Thoughnot limited to theses events, the annual meetings mustinclude readings by TACWT members as well as sessions aimed to improve the teaching of creative writing. Selection of the location for the annual meeting will bemade by April before the meeting is to occur. Announcement concerning this location and the general nature of the program is to appear in the spring newsletter of the TACWT. The program itself should be prepared by October 15 prior to the annual meeting. The president is responsible for details of the program, other than scheduling of the physical facilities for the individual sessions.

  5. Newsletter

    The newsletter will be published two to four times a year. It will publish information sent in by members and other information relevant to writing activities, as well as reviews of books. The newsletter will periodically give information about literary reviews and presses in the state. Subscriptions will be sold to non-members and libraries at a price agreed on by the officers. Editorship of the newsletter will last for three years, and will go to a member whose school will help .with the financial needs of the newsletter.

  6. Dues

    Annual dues will be set by officers of the association according to the financial needs of the organization.

  7. Amendment of the Constitution

    Any member of TACWT may propose amendment of the Constitution; such proposals should be sent to the President, who will appoint an Ad Hoc committee to study all proposed amendments received by each December 1 (proposals received after that date are postponed until the following year). At the annual meeting, the Committee will announce and make recommendations on each proposed amendment, and the President will then open the meeting for discussion. In the Newsletter following the meeting the Newsletter Editor will publish each proposed amendment, the name of its sponsor, and a brief summary of the Committee recommendation and of discussion at the meeting. A simple majority of votes cast is necessary for an amendment to become part of the constitution. Ballots are published in the Newsletter and are returned to and tallied by the President, who is responsible for informing the Editor of the results of the balloting. These results are published in the immediately following Newsletter.

Amendments (updated 2002)

  1. TACWT will sponsor the following student contests: Undergraduate-The Charles Oliver Memorial Award in Fiction, The TACWT Student Poetry Award, The TACWT Student Award in Creative Essay; Graduate- The Sean Chistopher Britton Memorial Award in Poetry, The TACWT Student Fiction Award, The TACWT Student Award in Creative Essay Awards. Winning students will receive $100 each, along with invitations to read at our annual conference and publication in the Texas Writer's Newsletter.

    • Judges: TACWT student contest coordinator will solicit three judges for both graduate and undergraduate contests in each genre. Eligibility: TACWT members may submit the work of students who were enrolled in their classes during Spring 2000, Fall 2000, or Spring 2001. These academic semesters of eligibility reflect the change in the traditional conference date, now held in the fall. While TACWT members may submit entries in all six contests, they may only submit one entry per competition, and no student more than once. Teaching members, not their students, must submit entries.

    • Length: Fiction: up to 4,000 words. Creative Essay: up to 4,000 words. Poetry: up to seven poems. Manuscript Format: All submissions must be typed or wordprocessed on one side of a standard white sheet of paper. Prose must be double-spaced. Each poem should be on a separate page. A cover sheet must be included. Names and addresses should appear on the cover sheet only. Headers should only include title (or shortened form of title) with pagination.

  2. Due to conflicts with other organizations' meetings, the annual TACWT meeting will be held on the last weekend in September.

  3. Due to the rising cost of mailing and due to our ability to communicate through internet and a proposed website, the Newsletter may be published just once a year.

  4. The Newsletter Editor, the Secretary, and the Treasurer will all be separate offices.

  5. The board will be made up of the present officers and the past president. The board may conduct its business by e-mail.