Call for entries: Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest – Summer 2012

The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is open to anyone who loves expressing innermost thoughts and feelings into the beautiful art of poetry or writing a short story that is worth telling everyone! And welcome to all who have the ability to dream… Write a poem or short story for a chance to win cash prizes. All works must be original. http://www.dreamquestone.com

Guidelines:

Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style, or form, typed or neatly hand printed.

And/or write a short story, five pages maximum length, on any subject or theme, creative writing fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal entries and screenwriting). Also, must be typed or neatly hand printed.

Multiple poetry and short story entries are accepted.

Postmark deadline: July 31, 2012

All contest winners will be announced on August 31, 2012

Prizes:

Writing Contest First Prize is $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $100.

Poetry Contest First Prize is $250. Second Prize: $125. Third Prize: $50.

Entry fees:

$10 per short story, $5 per poem.

To send entries: Include title(s) with your story (ies) or poem(s), along with your name, address, phone#, email, brief biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself), on the coversheet. Add a self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation. Fees payable to: “DREAMQUESTONE.COM”

Mail to:

Dream Quest One

Poetry & Writing Contest

P.O. Box 3141

Chicago, IL 60654

Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com for details and enter!

 

No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude. “And remember, in whatever you do, it’s okay to dream, for dreams do come true.” –Dream Quest One

The CZP / Rannu Fund For Writers of Speculative Literature

Submission period: March 1, 2012 – May 31, 2012

Winners announced: September 1, 2012

Submit entries WITHIN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL to:

 rannufund (at) gmail (dot) com

ABSOLUTELY NO ATTACHMENTS. Your submission will be deleted unread if it is in an attachment.

$10.00 CDN or U.S. fee per entry, or $15.00 CDN or U.S. to enter both fiction and poetry categories. Please pay only via PayPal to rannufund (a) gmail (dot) com

All entries must be in English. If writing in a language other than English, please provide a translation. 

All entries in both fiction and poetry MUST be “speculative literature” in content; in other words: science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, alternate history, steampunk, etc. Non-genre entries will be automatically disqualified, and will not receive a refund.

PLEASE NOTE that all judging will be blind. 

---

Poetry Award: $500 prize

-submit up to 5 poems (unpublished work), not to exceed 10 pages
-single-spaced
-plain text format
– _underlines_ to mark bold or italics
-include name, address, telephone number and e-mail address
-include a one-paragraph biography

 Fiction Award: $500 prize

-submit one short story or a novel excerpt (unpublished work) of no more than 7,000 words
-double-spaced
-if submitting a novel excerpt, include a brief synopsis
-plain text format
– _underlines_ to mark bold or italics
-include name, address, telephone number and e-mail address
-include a one-paragraph biography

 Two Honourable Mentions in each category will win $50.

Visit the website: http://rannu.webs.com/entryrules.htm

2012 Hazel Hilles Memorial Short Fiction Prize

My partner, Robert Hilles, and I began dating in February 1997. Since then, nearly every Sunday for fifteen years, he called his mother and spoke to her on the telephone. I can count on one hand the number of times he missed making that call.

In the early years of our relationship, Hazel Hilles was in her sixties. She had already lost Robert’s father, and she lived in an independent living complex in Winnipeg, Canada. On our visits, her eyes sparkled and the smile seldom left her face. She saved chairs for us at her table in the residents’ dining hall and pulled employees and other residents forward to meet Robert. My son, she’d say. He writes books.

Never was a mother more loving or supportive. She instilled in Robert a passion for poetry, and a desire to write. Without her influence, he says, he may never have become an author.

On January 20th, 2012, Hazel Hilles passed away to the great sadness of her surviving children and their families.

Robert and I have sponsored this short story contest in her memory. We look forward to reading your submissions.

Rules and Prize Details

Prizes:

1st $500

2nd $100

3rd $100

 

Deadline: All entries must be received on or before September 18th, 2012

Length: No minimum. Maximum 5000 words

Entry Fee: CAN $6

Contest Judges: Robert Hilles and Pearl Luke.

Contest Rules:

Entrants must be 18 years of age or older, but there are no geographical restrictions. The contest is open to anyone writing in English.

The maximum length of submissions is 5,000 words. Stories can be in any genre and address any theme.

Authors may enter multiple stories, but entry fees apply to each story submitted.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please contact us immediately to withdraw your work should you learn that it is a finalist or winner in another competition.

Entries will not be returned and no corrections may be made after submission to the creative writing contest.

All entries must be previously unpublished.

Entries must be the original work of the entrant. Any entries found to have been plagiarized will be disqualified.

Authors retain all copyright to their work. However, Be-a-Better-Writer.com will have first publication rights to the winning stories, which will be published in Page 47 online anthology.

Winners will be contacted by October 30, 2012. Results will also be posted on the contest website and sent by newsletter to registered members. Only winning contestants will be notified individually. The judge’s decision is final and neither the judge nor the editor of http://www.be-a-better-writer.com will enter into a discussion about the decision.

Entries that fail to comply with the entry rules and requirements will be disqualified.

Visit the website for details on how to enter: http://www.be-a-better-writer.com/creative-writing-contest.html

Calls for Submissions: Switchback Contests

Each month Switchback provides a prompt and we want you to send us your best work inspired by that prompt. The winning entry as decided by our editors will be featured on Switchback. Contest submissions can be poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or even art but must be 500 words or under. Please send us only one submission per prompt and only previously unpublished works. We accept simultaneous submissions but please notify us immediately of acceptance elsewhere. Make sure your name DOES NOT appear on the submission itself.

The deadline for submissions is 5:00 pm on the last day of the month.

The April prompt is: “Thought is made in the mouth.”

For more information visit www.swback.com/call

Switchback is a publication of the MFA Program at the University of San Francisco

Winners of the 11th Annual Poetry Contest to be feted Tuesday, April 10th Ventura County Writers Club’s contest drew entries across all age groups

(Ventura, CA – April 2, 2012) The public is invited to enjoy an evening of poetry on Tuesday, April 10th when the winners of the 11th annual Ventura County Writers Club Poetry Contest will be announced. The winning poets have been invited to perform their works at the April club meeting, and they and their families will be honored at a reception with refreshments following the readings and presentation of plaques.

Winners will be notified in advance so they can attend and read their poems. The names of the winners will be withheld from all but the winners until the night of the presentation. The club would like to thank Maggie Westland for chairing the contest this year and to all of the poets who volunteered to be judges.

This year there will be more winners as the club received six entries in our new, exciting Audio/Visual category. The other categories are: Adult, Youth under 12 and Youth 12 – 18.

“The Audio/Visual category added a new level of creativity to the contest,” stated Maggie Westland. “Poetry is no longer simply words. It sings aloud, delights our eyes and encompasses concrete poems, collage, cartoon, calligraphy, animation, spoken word, slam, hip hop, and lyrics. Audio and video come together as poets perform before cameras with sound tracks. Depending upon the winning A/V entries, we may have them perform live or set up a way to view the winners from YouTube.”

There were 137 total entries this year, including 27 from young people.

“As our Educational Outreach program takes off,” said Kate Sexton, club president, “we hope to work with schools and receive a larger number of entries from students next year. Inspiring a new generation to embrace poetry and other forms of written communication goes to the core of VCWC’s mission-to encourage the craft.”

Winning poems will be published in the club’s newsletter, The Write Stuff and an upcoming edition of the club’s anthology.

CALENDAR INFORMATION
April Meeting of the Ventura County Writers Club
April 10, 2012 7 PM
Pleasant Valley Senior Center,
1605 Burnley St, Camarillo, CA
Topic: Announcement of Poetry contest winners and the reading of winning entries
Open to Members and non-members. No fee.

For more information on the Ventura County Writers Club, visit: http://www.venturacountywriters.com/

About Ventura County Writers Club
Since its formation in 1933 with four members in Ojai, the club has grown to more than 150 members and holds regular monthly general membership meetings. Members may attend, free of charge, a variety of Writers Workshops, groups that meet one or more times a month throughout the county to read and critique manuscripts and discuss many aspects of the business of writing. Monthly meetings are open to all interested writers and are held the second Tuesday of each month (except December) at the Pleasant Valley Senior Center in Camarillo, CA.

Consent.com Writing Contest

If you are a passionate writer or artist, this is a tremendous opportunity to get your ideas and work in the public eye and be part of a growing content network called CONSENT.COM.

Submit an article and earn a chance to win a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card.

CONSENT focuses on anything and everything that involves the idea of “consent”. The word consent refers to the provision of approval or assent, particularly and especially after thoughtful consideration. Consent is a very broad and important concept in many areas of life, not the least being in medical, legal, and especially in government. The Declaration of Independence states “…governments are instituted among men, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed.”

CONSENT.COM is seeking writers and artists to submit any and all work related to the idea of consent. It could be an article, a poem, a picture… any type of content.

http://www.consent.com/writing-contest/

Guidelines

All entries must be unpublished, original and at least 1,000 words.  There is no maximum length requirement.

The entry fee is FREE.

You may enter as many times as you like.

Previously published stories and stories forthcoming at other publications cannot be considered. This includes online journals and other websites.

Entries must be submitted by April 30, 2012.

All entries will be posted and open for voting on May 6, 2012.

Winners will be announced on June 1, 2012, on the Consent.com website.

 Visit website to enter via submission form: http://www.consent.com/writing-contest/

Poetic Republic Poetry Prize 2012

Peer review online poetry competition judged by the entrants themselves.

1^st Prize (Single poem) £2,000

1^st Prize (Portfolio)        £1,000

The event will culminate with a collaborative eBook publication featuring

the best poems and comments as chosen by the participants.

Any subject or style: Poetry or Prose Poetry, Maximum 42 lines,

Entry fee £7.

To find out more and to enter online please visit: www.poeticrepublic.com

 Closing date: 30^th April 2012

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS ANNOUNCES HIGH SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST TO CELEBRATE CHARLES DICKENS

To celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens in 2012, Cambridge
University Press invites U.S. high school students to participate in an
essay contest inspired by the iconic author. Students are encouraged to
submit an original essay discussing his/her personal experience with
Charles Dickens.

The winner will have his/her bylined entry published on the press’ popular
industry blog, This Side of the Pond, and promoted through Cambridge media
networks. He/she will also receive a copy of The Cambridge Companion to
Charles Dickens.

Submission guidelines:
– Participants are currently enrolled in grades 9-12 (U.S. only).
– Essays are between 400-800 words.
– Submissions include: name, high school (including city and state), grade,
email address, and short personal statement (2-3 sentences).

Deadline for entries is April 30, 2012. Please send submissions to
publicity@cambridge.org with the subject line ‘Dickens Writing Contest’.
Contest winner will be announced by May 15.

Baltimore Review summer contest – “Heat” Theme

The Baltimore Review is now accepting submissions for its summer contest, and the theme is Heat:  It’s energy. It’s intensity. It’s passion. It consumes you. It dissolves, melts, bakes.  It’s a fever, or just a blush. It’s a night in a cheap motel, a barefoot walk on hot sand, a complicated meal in a rowhouse kitchen. It’s nuclear fusion or the Senate floor. It’s jalapeno and habanero peppers. It’s the cops. It’s the contest theme for our summer issue.

 Submit work in the fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry categories. We will select 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place winners from among all three categories. So winners could be two poems and one story, one creative nonfiction piece and two stories, etc. You get the picture. Simply the best work for the theme.

 Submit all contest entries, in whatever genre, through the submission system’s Contest category.  This will work. Trust me. Do not submit contest entries through the non-contest categories.

 Judging is blind. Please do not include identifying information on your work. Do include name, address, phone number, and email address in the cover letter/bio box.

 3,000 word max for prose. Best to keep poems to one page.

 Submit one story, one creative nonfiction piece, or 1-3 poems.

 $10 entry fee.

 1st place prize – $300, 2nd place prize $200, 3rd place prize $100. First-place winner will be published. All entries will be considered for publication.

 Deadline: May 30, 2012

 Visit the website for details and enter: http://baltimorereview.submishmash.com/submit

Annual Janet McCabe Poetry Prize

RUMINATE Magazine is currently seeking submissions for our

annual Janet McCabe Poetry Prize

with an award of $1000 to the winning poet.

The deadline to submit poetry is May 1st.

Entry fee is $15, and includes a copy of the Fall Issue.

The winning poem and runner-up poem

will be published in the Fall 2012 issue.

For more rules and guidelines,

please visit: http://www.ruminatemagazine.com/submit/contests/poetry-prize/

THE 2012 GeminiMAGAZINE FLASH FICTION CONTEST

Grand Prize: $1,000
Second Place: $100
Third Place: $50
Three Honorable Mentions
Entry fee: $4
($3 for each additional entry)
Deadline: August 31, 2012
Maximum length: 1,000 words

All Six Finalists Will Be Published Online in the
October 2012 Issue of Gemini.

Absolutely no restrictions on content, style or genre.
Simply send your best, most powerful work.

Visit the website for details: http://www.gemini-magazine.com/contest.html

Gemini March issue/Poetry Prize winners

“Renga for an Absent Lover,” by Sheryl Mebane, won the 2012 Gemini Magazine Poetry Open and the $1,000 prize. A jazz musician, Sheryl is the author of the jazz novel Lady Bird. The second place prize of $100 went to Gerardo Mena for “A Nursing Home Boxer to a High School Volunteer” and Christina Lovin won the third place award for “11/11/11.”

Honorable mentions: “Depression Is My Happy Place,” by Jendi Reiter; “What the F***?” by Russ Dickerson, and “Morris’ Magic,” by Aurora M. Lewis.

Also in our March issue: moving short stories by Patty Somlo, Raud Kennedy and Sandra Seamans. Cover art: a cool painting of Bob Marley by Debra Hurd.

Congratulations to Gemini contributor Allison Whittenberg, whose vibrant poem, “52^nd and Spruce,” was selected for the Best of the Net 2011 anthology now online from Sundress Publications. Allison’s poem originally appeared in the January 2011 issue of Gemini.

And congrats to Seamus Scanlon, winner of our 2011 Short Story Prize, for enthusiastic reviews of his play, “Dancing at Lunacy,” in the Huffington Post (“a powerful piece”), Back Stage, and elsewhere. The play premiered this month at the Cell Theatre in New York.

Gemini is open to submissions year round. Our Flash Fiction Contest, offering a grand prize of $1,000, runs through August 31, 2012. The entry fee is $4.

Ukritic.com Review Writing Contest

Starting May 1st 2012 

We are having a contest! To kick things off right, Ukritic.com is rewarding the memeber who submits the best review before May 15, 2012. Every review submitted will be a contender in the contest. Shortly after we’ll announce the winner on our home page and send them a thousand big ones.

Contest Terms: $1,000 USD to the member who impresses us with what we consider to be the most compelling and engaging review, starting May 1st, 2012 and ending on May 15th, 2012. All reviews must comply with our rules and terms of use, and be approved by our moderators before becoming eligible for this contest. (We generally average a 24 hour moderation turnover). We will announce the winner within a week of the contest ending on the 15th…

Sound good? Great!

All you have to do is register with us and then start submitting the most compelling, most engaging, and most entertaining reviews that your witty self can compose – starting May 1st!

Every review you submit between May 1st and May 15th is automatically entered into our contest, and will be evaluated by our panel of judges!

Now – here’s a few things to keep in mind, and a couple rules, just to keep everyone honest…

• You Need to Blow Us Away. Make us laugh. Make us really think about something. Be objective, but don’t hide your personality. Most importantly – whether the product is amazing or it stinks – be memorable..

It doesn’t matter if the product’s life-changing or a dud. Or even if it’s just “meh”. What matters is YOUR REVIEW. Some of the most memorable reviews I’ve read in the past have actually covered crappy or average products. My suggestion? Show us your ability to review all types of stuff. Great stuff, crappy products, mediocre services – whatever.

We’re not judging the rating. We’re judging the review.

• 100% Original Reviews Only. We won’t approve duplicate content anyway (stuff that’s found elsewhere on the web), and no, you can’t use “spun” content, PLR or anything that you didn’t write yourself, from scratch.

• Mix It Up. Yes, we realize that your odds of winning increase if you submit multiple reviews/entries, but keep in mind – we can easily tell if you’re just submitting similar, formulaic reviews (either in format or style).

• Different Products. Obviously, you can’t review the same product more than once.

• Keep it Real. The rules still apply, you can’t just “make stuff up” for the sake of brevity, or give everything a glowing review. (Remember that you can recommend a better product when you review a bad/mediocre one).

• Remember The Big Picture. Remember that in addition to possibly winning $1,000 – you’re also building high-profile reviews that can generate a passive income for you (with affiliate programs).

So in reality, most people who participate in this contest will be rewarded, anyway.

But we thought we’d start things off with a fun contest like this – just for kicks 🙂

You can check out our site here: http://ukritic.com/

And our contest details page here: http://ukritic.com/page/publishing-contests

Best of Luck!

The Island Institute’s Writers’ Residencies – Sitka, Alaska

The Island Institute, Sitka, AK

Deadline: April 15th, annually

The Island Institute’s Writers’ Residencies provide opportunities for four writers to each spend a month in Sitka, Alaska, pursuing their own work while getting to know this unique island community in the forested coastal mountains of Southeast Alaska. Residents’ time is largely their own, but each person is expected to take part in five community activities. Two public readings frame each residency—one at the beginning and one at the end. Other activities might include a writing workshop; community discussions; visits to schools; or extended radio interviews.

Each resident is provided living accommodations (including a kitchen) and a stipend of $75/week toward food costs. Travel to and from Sitka, as well as all other incidental costs, are the responsibility of the resident.

There is a single application deadline of April 15 for positions in September of that year and January and April of the following year. The November position each year is reserved for an international writer who comes to Sitka from the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

The program aims to encourage the work of both promising and published writers who share the interests of The Island Institute – the nature of vital communities, the social and ethical web of human relationships and connections to the natural world, the global effort to shape sustainable human cultures. In return, we believe that the gift of Sitka’s spectacular landscape and the congenial character of the community are likely, in inestimable ways, to inform the residents’ work.

Visit islandinstitutealaska.org for more information and to download an application.

Testimony about the program:

“A gift of uninterrupted working time is immeasurably valuable to any creative endeavor. There are three ways, however, in which The Island Institute’s gift differs from other residency programs-

. . . the astonishing landscape of the southeast Alaska panhandle

. . . the community involvement which the Institute fosters

. . . the interdisciplinary nature of the residency program.”

Alison Deming, English Department, University of Arizona

Spotlight On: A One Person Play writing Contest

Type of material: One person plays

Frequency: Annual

Remuneration: $500 cash prize, and possible production and performance of the winning play

Guidelines (summary): Play can have been produced and performed anywhere but Los Angeles, 2 play submission limit, 10 minute minimum and 95 minute maximum. See the full guidelines for more details.

Submission Procedure: Application, summary, script, and resume; materials will not be returned

Submission Period: January 1 –  June 30st

Notification: July 31st   

Website: http://spotlightonplaywritingcompetitio.weebly.com/