Writers Unbound

13 Contest Ending Soon

1. June 2008 Scribophile Contest. Fiction: mystery, 2000 to 5000 wds, first chapter of mystery novel; First prize: $50 Amazon gift card; Deadline: June 30th.
2. The Shya Scanlon 7-line Contest. 7-line story, any genre; First prize: $1000 and publication; Entry fee: $10; Deadline: August 15th.
3. The Summer 2008 Short Story Warren Adler Contest. Humor: 1000 to 2500 words; First prize: $1000; Entry fee: $15; Deadline: August 15th.
4. The Writer’s Workshop of Asheville, NC, 19th Annual Poetry Contest. Poetry: 3 poems per entry; First prize: $300; Entry fee: $20; Deadline: June 30th.
5. The Writer’s Workshop of Asheville, NC, Hard Times Writing Contest. Memoir: up to 4000 words, overcoming hard times; First prize: $300; Entry fee: $20; Deadline: July 31st.
6. FenCon Short Story Contest. Fiction: science fiction or fantasy, up to 5000 words; First prize: $50; Entry fee: $10; Deadline: July 20th.
7. 2008 First Annual Benu Press Creative Non-Fiction Award. Non-fiction manuscript; First prize: Publication, 7% royalties; Deadline: July 25th.
8. Costa Rica Pages Travel Writing Competition. Non-fiction, 300 to 800 words, favorite vacation moment; First prize: Vacation to Costa Rica; Deadline: July 31st.
9. The TNPR Book Prize Series. Poetry: 45 - 80 pages; First prize: $1000 plus publication; Entry fee: $25; Deadline: August 31st.
10. The American Poet Prize for Poetry. Poetry: 3 poems, up to 10 pages; First Prize: $500 plus publication; Entry Fee: $16.00; Deadline: June 30th.
11. The KeyHole Chapbook Contest. Poetry chapbook, 18 - 36 pages; First prize: $250 and publication; Entry fee: $15; Deadline: July 30th.
12. The Finishing Line Press Prize in Poetry Open Chapbook Competition. Poetry chapbook: up to 26 pages; First prize: $1000 and publication: Entry fee: $15; Deadline: June 30th.
13. The Dream Quest One Poetry and Writing Contest. Poem, up to 30 lines OR Short story, any genre (including creative non-fiction) up to 5 pages; multiple entries accepted; First prize: $500; Entry Fee: $5 for poetry, $10 for short story; Deadline: July 31st.

Make it a good day.

I received this email from Doug Pugh, Administrator at The Write Idea:

The Write Idea, a small but friendly writers forum have recently released details of the first annual competition named in honour of their founder.
Consisting of nine rounds of short stories over eighteen weeks, or nine poetry rounds over the same timespan, there is a cash prize for the winner, along with publication of each round winner in an end of competition anthology.

Here are a few more details about the competition:
Requirements: Anyone over the age of 18 who writes fiction or poetry in English. (Excluding Whittaker Prize judges and TWI administrators.) Anyone wishing to participate in this competition must currently be a member of TWI or register and be accepted as a member of the forum.

Categories: fiction and poetry. Writers may enter one category or both categories.

Fee: £15 ($30 Cdn or US). Writers may enter BOTH categories for a fee of £25 ($50 CDN or US). Fees may be paid via PayPal to donnagee@rogers.com or email donnagee@vianet.com to make other arrangements (i.e. cheque or money order). NOTE: If you enter all nine rounds, the entry fee works out to approximately £1.70 per round. And you’ll have nine pieces of writing in your back pocket.

Prizes: $200 US for Fiction Winner, $200 US for Poetry Winner

The contest follows a schedule with posted prompts on particular days and then two weeks to write and submit to each prompt. For the schedule and more details, go here.

Write.

Dear Writers Unbound, I noticed you stopped writing about Writing Contests. Do you not recommend them anymore?

and

Allena,

We have a writer’s contest we  thought your readers might be interested in here at ________________. The entry fee is XX and the winners will receive their work published in our anthology.

and

Writers Unbound,

I recently entered a bunch of writing contests and got absolutely no response. I’m wondering if I should throw in the towel on this whole “writing” thing. If I can’t even win a $50 contest, how will I ever get anyone to publish my book? Are these contests a good indicator of a writer’s quality?

Hi everyone. Actually, I took over this blog in October, so any mention of writing contests since then was from the writer before me.

But, do I recommend contests? I sometimes do. I simply don’t write about them as much because I lack time to enter them myself! As with any writing endeavor, you’ve got to carefully consider what you spend your time on. Do some background work on any contests that you are thinking of entering, check out their past winners, and make sure that your time is worth it.

For example, the contest above that I’ve been asked to advertise to you, dear readers, seems a bit scammy to me. Past “winners” were lacking in core quality and the “prize” isn’t really all that.

However, don’t misread me. There are contests that I’ve been interested in and would endorse. Some of the big name contests, often run by Universities or well known publishers will be able to pull out some really talented writers from the pack. On the other hand, losing these contestsdoesn’t necessarily mean that you’re completely out of the game. You have to remember that there’s a certain amount of subjectivity in each one. 

I’ll be sure to pass on any good contests/links in the future.

Hello Allena, thanks for the link and the frequent updates. I’m entering a contest and it asked if my piece had already been published. Parts of it have appeared on my blog. What do you think? There’s no additional clarification.

This is a great question, and I’m going to answer it for all the readers! I myself ran across this very thing recently when I entered the Erma Bombeck Humor Essayscontest on a whim. (Side-note: I found out about this contest through the fine writer’s community at WOW: Women on Writing.)

The Bombeck contest clearly defines what they consider published and unpublished. But, in a circumstance like yours, where no hints are given, we had to take our question to the experts at Writer’s Digest. The verdict ? “It’s considered unpublished if it’s appeared on your blog or someone else’s, though the rules are changing…”

A similar question comes along when freelance writers want to include samples on there site- a good practice- but worry that publishing samples on their site constitutes giving up “first rights” and therefore hesitate to publish the sample. At the same time, posting previously published materials on your sample site may be stepping on your editor’s toes- not to mention your contract. The solution to this last dilemma is simple: ask permission. Most editors will either allow your article to be re-posted , or will provide you a link to an internet version. 

As for the original question, I would go ahead and enter the contest with your piece. If you are very worried, an email to the sponsor may be in order.

Sometimes it’s easy to figure out what kind of story/poetry/essay will win a writing contest. It may be simply a matter of checking out past winners and generalizing their characteristics. One can then write a entry with a better chance of winning.

Seems that’s what a 6 year old from Garland, Texas and her mother did. The girl wrote an entry for a contest in which the prize was 4 tickets to a Hannah Montana concert. (For those without daughters under 14: Hannah Montana is the fictional alter ego of singer Miley Cyrus, the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, and is currently one of Disney’s #1 profit makers).

The little girl’s essay obviously had all it takes to win the prize: a sad story, angst, heartbreak, etc. Turns out, the essay was completely made up. False as false can be. The tale actually included the death of a fake father in Iraq! (Is the real father somewhere saying OUCH?)

The worst part is, the mom was the motivation behind the essay. She encouraged the child to do anything to win the tickets! Seems she didn’t follow the whole James Frey debacle, huh?

The sponsoring organization promptly took the prize away, and the mother has been roundly criticized in the media and blogosphere.

As a sidenote, I love the fact that there are writing contests for kids, and ones with prizes big enough for kids to want to hone their writing skills. I won several local writing contests as a kid myself, and it is definitely a grand encouragement. 

Lesson for writers: non fiction means non fiction.

Lesson for parents: Children learn by your actions, not your words.

Lesson for kids: Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana tickets are better earned by completing old-fashioned yard work! If you want to write, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.

writing contest, hannah montana, miley cyrus, concert contests

How do you know a contest is fair?

Most writers enter a contest at some point, and it’s often hard to tell when a contest is fair. The poetry world, aka Po-Biz, experienced a severe shakeup several years ago when a librarian founded the site Foetry to help poets make wise decisions before parting with entry fees as high as $35. Poets and Writers recently featured an article about two poetry contests that left entrants empty-handed.

There’s never a perfect method for determining fairness. But along the way I learned to be cautious. Here are some tips I learned the hard way:
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Are you the next sensation in children’s writing? Cheerios wants your submission for a children’s book. Previously unpublished adult authors are invited to submit a story.

Your story should be suitable for children 4-8 years old. Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing will review the winning story for a potential book deal. Three top finalists will receive cash prizes.

First-time author Jacqui Robbins’ book “The New Girl…and Me” is one of five books to be tucked inside Cheerios cereal boxes. A press release says, “The children’s book contest is part of the Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories program to get high quality books into kids’ hands. Over the past five years, Cheerios has donated more than $2 million to First Book (www.firstbook.org), and has given more than 25 million books to children inside boxes of Cheerios cereal.

The deadline for submissions is September 7, 2007. Entries can conveniently be submitted online.

Be sure you carefully read the guidelines at www.SpoonfulsofStoriesContest.com.

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