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What Makes a South Dakotan

In celebration of our 40th Anniversary, the South Dakota Humanities Council is looking for your stories to answer the question “What Makes a South Dakotan?” Your entries and perspectives will make up the fifth volume of SDHC’s South Dakota Stories series, which we will release in Sioux Falls at our 10th Annual South Dakota Festival of Books (September 28-30, 2012). To help spur this discussion and get you thinking about such a broad question, we invite you to take part in one of many Civic Reflection discussions that SDHC will be sponsoring in the upcoming months.

             (click image to submit your entry)

ENTRIES ARE DUE FEB. 29!

Submission Guidelines:

• Length should approximate 100-600 words
• 1 submission per person
• Typed, double-spaced
• Identify the title, your name, and the town you’re from (and/or writing about, if applicable)
• Poetry is welcomed, and photos/illustrations may be submitted as separate entries for inclusion

Because you needn’t encompass everything about being a South Dakotan in 600 words or less, here are a few suggested approaches:
• Write anecdotally about a personal experience, observation, or day-to-day activity
• Offer your point of view of the history/geography/art/architecture/literature of the state
• Comment on the values/habits/rituals seen throughout the state
• Consider what “distinctive characteristics” make us who we are

These suggestions should only serve as possible routes you could go. Let your process take on its own life! Drawing on your personal experiences and observations, tell us your story, your take on the question we’ve posed. We want the “real stories” of what the authentic SD experience is right now, and we want you to be part of that conversation. The eventual book is intended to offer new and diverse recognitions of who we are and what we’re about here and now in South Dakota.

Examples:

Example Press Release and Flyer for Discussion Leaders:

What Makes a South Dakotan Discussion Coming to Your Town

Program Flyer

1215 Trail Ridge Road, Suite A • Brookings, SD 57006 • Tel: 605-688-6113 • Fax: 605-688-4531 • info@sdhumanities.org