Mookychick.co.uk – FEMFLASH 2013 Flash Fiction Competition

Stories and poems of up to 200 words on the theme of feminism.

Judges: Authors Kirsty Logan and Kaite Welsh, and For Books’ Sake Founder Jane Bradley:

Prizes: £50, £25, £25 and a one year digital subscription to BUST Magazine

10 finalists will be chosen for online publication with a link to their blog or website.

Free entry.

Global entries welcome.

Closing date: 26 October 2013

URL for entries: http://www.mookychick.co.uk/feminism/uk-feminism/femflash-2013.php

Call for Submissions! The Landing Theatre Company: New American Voices 2014 Play Reading Series – Playwriting Festival

Submissions will be accepted September 1st through October 31st, 2013.

Play Submissions

The Landing Theatre Company and Wordsmyth Theater Company are now accepting ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­full-length plays for ­­­­­­­­­­­­the 2014 New American Play Reading Series in Houston, Texas. Four plays will be selected for staged readings during the Landing Theatre Company’s Spring Festival. Selected playwrights must attend the readings. Playwrights must cover their own travel expenses.
Fees
1. There are no fees for submitting.
Format
1. Selected playwrights must attend the festival.  
2. Each playwright will be paired with a local director prior to the festival to prepare for the event.
3. Director will cast the play prior to the festival.
4. Each production will receive at least two rehearsals prior to the official reading.
5. One rehearsal will be scheduled when the playwright can attend. 
6. The play will then be read in front of an audience, with a moderated discussion of the play afterwards.

Submission Criteria

Submissions must meet the following criteria:
1. Playwright must be a citizen or legal resident of the United States of America.
2. Play must not have been produced.
3. Play must not have had a public reading in the Houston area.
4. Submission must be received on or before October 31st, 2013.
5. Submission must be a minimum of 30 pages long and have a minimum run time of 45 minutes.
6. Submission must be in .doc, .pdf or .rtf format.
7. Plays are given blind reads, so there should be no playwright identifiers anywhere on the script.  Your name and/or contact information should only be in the email.
8. Only one play per playwright per submission period.
9. No musicals, children’s plays, or one-person plays. 
10. Playwrights will only be notified if your play is selected.

The 2014 New American Voices Play Reading Series will be presented March 7-9, 2014.

Visit the website for submission details: http://www.landingtheatre.org/nav-play-submissions.html

Theatre InspiraTO’s Playwriting Contest

Canada’s Largest Ten-Minute Play Festival: www.inspiratofestival.ca

The InspiraTO Theatre Festival, now entering its 9 th season, has produced 134 ten-minute plays to date. Each season over 100 theatre artists participate in Canada’s largest ten-minute play festival.

InspiraTO’s Ten-Minute Playwriting Contest is open to everyone without age or geographic restriction. You can only submit one play.  There is no submission fee.   

Deadline to submit a play:  Dec. 18, 2013 (midnight E.S.T.)

The creative challenge: The staging of the play must involve two or more dimensions i.e. fantasy & reality; fiction & history; past & present; living & dead; different psychological states (character & alter ego); spiritual & physical world;  reality & dream world; deaf & hearing; human & abstract; stage & breaking the fourth wall, etc.

For full details visit: http://www.inspiratofestival.ca/write-a-play.php

Announcing NASA’s 2013 Edition of the Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest

The Cassini spacecraft launched in October 1997 and has been orbiting Saturn since 2004.

The 2013 Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest is open to students in grades 5-12.  Essays must be under 500 words.  

There are three essay topics to choose from: 

1.  Saturn’s moon, Iapetus

2.  Saturn’s moon, Dione

3.  Saturn

Students choose one of these topics and write an essay about why they think this image should be taken by the Cassini spacecraft.  What questions do they hope will be answered by taking this picture?

The essay contest meets U.S. National Science and Language Arts Standards.

For contest rules, videos about each essay topic, a downloadable contest flyer, frequently asked questions, and more information, visit:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/scientistforaday/

The contest deadline is Friday, October 25, 2013.  All essays must be submitted by the student’s teacher (or parent, if homeschooled).  If the essay contest is used as a class assignment, please send the top 3 essays from each class, along with a list of other students who wrote essays for the contest.

All students who write essays will receive a certificate of participation.  U.S. winners and their classes will be invited to participate in a teleconference with Cassini scientists.  U.S. and international winning essays will be posted on the Cassini website.

For questions about the contest, e-mail: scientistforaday@jpl.nasa.gov

Dark Tales Quarterly Short Story Contest

Original, unpublished horror and science fiction of up to 5000 words is welcome for our recently re-launched competition. You can enter online if you are outside the UK and email your work.

 

Prizes in US dollars are $387, $155 and $77, plus publication in our high-quality anthology.

 

The entry fee is $8, $16 if you would like a tick-sheet critique, $32 if you would like a critique and edit.

 

Find us at www.darktales.co.uk along with complete details and rules.

14th Annual Ventura County Writers Club Short Story Contest opens September 1st, 2013 – A second category for high school students

(Ventura, CA—August 27, 2013)  The Ventura County Writers Club (VCWC) announced its 14^th Annual Short Story Contest, which will open for submissions on September 1, 2013 and close October 15, 2013. For the second year, the Short Story contest will accept entries from students currently enrolled in high school. The student entries will be judged in a separate category.The contest draws entries from around the country as well as internationally. The Ventura County Star newspaper will publish the first-place adult entry in a January 2014 Sunday edition. The paper will publish first, second, and third-place winning entries from both categories in their online edition. The top three adult winners will receive a cash prize: first place $500; second place $250; and third place $125. In the youth category, winners will also receive cash prizes: first place $100; second place $75; and third place $50.“We received a good response last year to the youth category,” said Kate Sexton, club president. “The club’s motto ‘to encourage the craft’ begins with mentoring the youth of the community on creative writing. Stories are the groundwork of societies and we need to keep a focus on producing the next generation of great American writers.”

All stories are logged in and assigned a number for the sake of anonymity. VCWC employs a scored, tiered process of judging, with editors at the newspaper judging the final third tier.

“In years past, the Club has received many stories from across the nation, and even from abroad, a mark of the prestige our contest is gaining,” said Shelba Cole Robison, Short Story Committee Chair. “The contest provides an opportunity for many writers to be published for the first time, and to see their writing enjoyed by a wide reading audience.”

There are additional perks for the winners. The 2014 VCWC Anthology will publish winning entries. The vcstar.com website will post the top finalists. VCWC will host a reception at the January 14, 2014 meeting, for the winners and will invite them to read highlights from their stories.

The contest rules are as follows:

• All submitted stories must be original and may not have been previously published in any newspaper, magazine, or book, whether or not the author received compensation. Self-published and electronically published works are considered to be previously published.
• Submissions may be in any genre. All stories must be appropriate for a family publication, no erotica or offensive content.  You may enter as many stories as you like as long as the correct entry fee is attached.
• Those who have won first place in our contest in the last three years are not eligible.
• If entering via postal mail, include three copies of each short story being submitted. This year, entries will also be accepted online.
• Make sure your name does not appear on any page of your story. Only put your name on the entry form.
• Each submitted short story must be typed and double spaced using 12-point type, in Courier or Times New Roman font, on white 8½ x 11 inch paper, with left and right margins 1.25-inch and top and bottom margins 1-inch. Indent the first line of each paragraph and number all pages at top or bottom. Story must be 10 pages or fewer. Put the story title at the top of each page. Do not put the author’s name on any pages of the submitted stories.
• Be sure to include your entry fee: $15 per short story for Adult VCWC members, $25.00 per short story for Adult non-members. Each Youth entry is $10.
• All story submissions may be paid with a single check. Please note the number of submissions on the reference line of the check. Mail entry form, story submissions and check (payable to VCWC) to: VCWC Short Story Contest, P.O. Box 3373, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359. Do not mail submissions prior to September 1, 2013.
• Online entries may be paid through PayPal and submitted directly through the club’s website as of September 1, 2013.
• Deadline for submissions is October 15, 2013.
• No person may win more than one prize.

Rules and entry applications will be on the club’s website: http://www.venturacountywriters.com/. More information on the club is posted there as well.

About Ventura County Writers Club

Since its formation in 1933 in Ojai, the club has grown to more than 175 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).

For more information, contact:
Kathleen Kaiser, 805-524-6970, Kathleen@KathleenKaiser.com

Scare me, I dare you!

Contest category: Short Story
Type: Horror
Deadline: October 10, 2013
Entry fee: $0.00 (FREE!)

Word count Maximum: 750
Prizes: First place: Two signed copies of Exiled and a digital copy of Tristis Manor Second place: One signed copy of Exiled Third place: Swag (bookmarks, bracelets, etc.)

Prompt: Write something scary. That’s it. Seriously. Something to keep in mind; I don’t scare easily -especially when it comes to writing mostly due to the pacing of the story (*cough* pay attention to pacing). Work on the slow build or, if you’re really good, hit me in the face and keep my attention for the duration.

PLEASE read the contest rules Below.
I STRONGLY RECOMMEND reading the scoring rubric (found in the contest rules). It will tell you exactly how each submission will be scored. There will be a bonus of up to ten points based on how scary it is (not in rubric)

Contest rules: 

Entries must be emailed to contest@theneverchronicles.com

All entries must be submitted by midnight on the deadline date

Entries must be pasted into the body of an email. NO ATTACHMENTS

12pt font double spaced -normal font (Garmond (preferred), courier new, arial, default email font)

No submission limit

Early submissions appreciated

Previous winners are excluded from being considered for prizes

750 word Maximum word count

Spelling and grammar taken into consideration

PG13 stories only please

No previously published works (unless self-published)

By submitting an entry, you are giving permission for your story to be posted on this website, the J. R. Wagner author blog and the J. R. Wagner author facebook page. If and when they appear in the aforementioned locations, the author(you) will be credited and have the opportunity to provide links to the author’s (your) external sites. (websites, blogs, facebook pages etc.)

All works are the sole property of the authors.  Reproduction of any kind, without the permission of the author as well as proper citation is strictly prohibited.

Scoring rubric can be found HERE each category is worth ten points.

links:

Rubric

http://www.theneverchronicles.com/uploads/ShortStory.pdf

Contest page

http://www.theneverchronicles.com/Writing_Contests.html