Here at Flyway, in the heart of Iowa under one of North America’s largest migratory bird paths, we’re in love with place! Natural places fecund with animal ecosystems, urban places bustling with man-made technology, and the landscapes of the mind — specifically, yours.

Flyway is calling on blog readers to take part in a new monthly round-robin photo and writing contest.

Here’s how it works: At the beginning of each the month, we’ll put out a call for photos relating to place — the more specific, the better. We’ll collect the cream of the crop and let you, our readers, vote on the best via Flyway’s Facebook page. The winning photo will serve as a writing prompt for reader-submitted poems or fiction and non-fiction flash pieces — no more than 150 words. Again, we’ll post our favorites and let you choose the winners.

All new content — the initial announcement, runners-up photos, the winning photo and written responses will be posted on Fridays on the blog and Facebook/Twitter.

Got it? Don’t worry — we’ll post updates and reminders throughout October, our inaugural month. Just keep reading!

Ready and raring for this month’s prompt?

For our first contest we’re looking for birds, though not of the real variety. Send us photos of your favorite fake bird — rubber ducky, pink flamingo, etc — in a place you hold dear. And stay tuned for the runners-up announced on October 24th. We can’t wait to see what you come up with! Send all photos as jPEGS to eschmiel@iastate.edu.

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