Preditors and Editors ™

A guide to publishers and publishing services for serious writers since 1997.

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Writing Contests

Preditors & Editors does not recommend or endorse any of the following contests except for its own readers poll unless otherwise stated.

Additionally, it really doesn't make sense to enter a contest that charges a fee if there isn't any prize worth significantly more than the entry fee. We strongly advise writers to enter only those contests without a fee. P&E does not recommend any contests with entry fees.

Because of the volatile nature of contests, P&E will date contest entries from now on and remove those that do not appear to re-occur annually. If you see one that is no longer current or recurring, please let us know.

Ratings criteria for all sections of P&E are listed on the P&E's Rating Criteria page.

A

• 6/16/09: Though the contest has presumably ended, the winners have not been announced. The date given to one writer asking when the winners would be announced has slipped past even that date.
• 8/8/10: A writer who won a previous year in this contest reports his contract was terminated and the contest is shutting down.

Screenplay Competition deadline: May 7.  Entry fee: $40.  Categories:
Adult/Family and Comedy.

Prime Time Teleplay Competition deadline: June 1.  Entry fee: $30.
Categories: Sitcom and Drama.

Film Competition early deadline: June 15.  Entry fee: $40.  Categories:
Narrative Feature, Short, and Student Short.  Late deadline: July 15.
Entry Fee: $50.

Documentary Competition early deadline: June 15.  Entry fee: $40.  Late
deadline: July 15.  Entry Fee: $50.  Categories: Doc Feature, Short, and
Student Short.

B

*Our 2006 Winner, Young Kim is in pre-production to direct his winning 
script, six months after being named winner of BlueCat

*Our 2005 Winner, GARY THE TENNIS COACH, starring Seann William Scott and 
directed by Danny Leiner, recently wrapped in Austin. Winning BlueCat 
writers Andy Stock and Rick Stempson signed with UTA

*Every writer who enters BlueCat receives written analysis on their 
screenplay

*Winner receives $10,000 and Finalists receive $1500, the largest cash prize 
for a screenplay contest that provides feedback to all writers

*One Finalist receives a live staged reading at the High Falls Film 
Festival, held at the George Eastman House in New York, all expenses paid

*Loglines of all Semi-Finalists and Finalists are featured on our site 
throughout the year

*Founded by award winning writer-director Gordy Hoffman

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• New Arrival Poetry: A contest for new poetry writers. See the site for details.
• New Arrival Story: A contest for new story writers. See the site for details.
• This Sentence Starts The Story: A contest where you must begin your story with the sentence provided. See the site for details.
• Poetry Imagery: Write a poem about the image provided in the announcement. See the site for details.
• Strong Character: Write a story that includes a strong central character. See the site for details.
• Poetry Contest: Write a poem that follows a specific format. See the site for details.
• Tell A Story: Choose one of the images provided and write a story or poem about it. See the site for details.

"We are announcing our 2nd First Line contest. The winning sentence will be 
used for one of our 2004 issues. The winner will receive a one-year (4 
issue) subscription to The First Line and $10.00.

Of course, with any contest like this, there are rules:
1. Sentences must be your original creation and not part of a previously 
published story.
2. You may submit up to three (3) sentences for consideration.
3. Send entries to: submission@thefirstline.com or
The First Line
P.O. Box 250382
Plano, TX 75025-0382
4. Please include your e-mail or mailing address for notification.
5. All entries must be received by 6 p.m. (EST) on October 1, 2003.
6. The winner will be announced November 1, 2003 on The First Line Web site."

G

Golden Quill 2012: Published

Sponsor: Phoenix Desert Rose RWA

Fee: $30

Deadline: Received by Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Eligibility: Romance novels authored by RWA members in good standing. Titles must
have a copyright date, first North American printing/release date, OR electronic print
release date between January and December 2011.

Entry: Five autographed copies of each title. E-book submissions printed and bound OR
PDF readable format on five separate CD’s. No ARCS (advanced reader copies)
accepted. No entry limit. If you would like to donate books for the Golden Quill Basket, 
to be given away at the 2012 Desert Dreams Writers’ Conference, please send six books.

Categories: Best First Book, Traditional, Long Contemporary/Mainstream/Single Title, 
Short Contemporary, Romantic Suspense, Novella, Historical, Regency Historical, 
Paranormal/Time Travel/Fantasy, Science Fiction/Futuristic, Inspirational, 
Inspirational-Romantic Suspense, Hot/Sexy/Sensuous/Erotic/Alterative/GLBT

Judges: Romance readers, librarians, writers

Top Prizes: Plaques for winners in each category, Certificates and Ribbons for finalists.
Representation in a full-page RWR ad, lapel pin, and website graphic. 
Winners will be announced at the 2012 Desert Dreams Writers’ Conference in AZ.

FMI Contact: goldenquill@desertroserwa.org or visit

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There are three contests with this conference; a short story contest, The Jean Nelson Award, and a flash fiction contest. All contests are open to residents of Wisconsin only and must be unpublished. All manuscripts must have authors name, mailing address, telephone number, word count and e-mail address on the manuscript. Entries must be received by March 30. Writers should include a 100 word bio. Manuscripts should be sent in the body of the e-mail or attached as a pdf to Lakeflylit[at]aol.com. Manuscripts may also be sent to:

Lakefly Conference
c/o Oshkosh Public Library
106 Washington Ave
Oshkosh, WI 54901

The short story contest has a main prize of $100 and an honorable mention award of $75. Stories must be under 2,500 words.

The Jean Nelson Award will be awarded for the best essay with the theme "The impact a library has made in my life". A prize of $400 dollars with an honorable mention of $100 will be given. The essay must be 2500 words or less.

The flash fiction contest has a prize of $100 and a word limit of 500 words.

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Short Fiction Contest (Semi-Annual Contest)
Writing contest introduces today's hottest new fiction writers. 
Grand Prize Winner: $1,000; publication on website and monthly newsletter.
First Place Winner: $100; publication on website and monthly newsletter.
Deadline: April 30/October 31 annually
Reading fee: $20 per story
More Information: http://www.oncewritten.com/Contests/FictionContest.php
 
(Changed entry fee and URL)
 
Poetry Contest (Semi-Annual Contest)
Grand Prize Winner: $500; publication on website and monthly newsletter.
First Place Winner: $100; publication on website and monthly newsletter.
Deadline: March 31/September 30 annually
Reading fee: $15 per poem
More Information: www.oncewritten.com/Contests/PoetryContest.php
 
(changed entry fee, deadline dates and URL)
 
In the Midnight Hour... (Annual Contest)
Halloween-themed, horror writing contest. Winning short stories will be 
featured in the Halloween newsletter.
 
Grand Prize Winner: $500; publication on website and monthly newsletter.
First Place Winner: $100; publication on website and monthly newsletter.
Deadline: August 31 annually 
Reading fee: $15 per story
More Information: www.oncewritten.com/Contests/MidnightHour.php
 
(changed entry fee, and URL)

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• Why P&E did not recommend Sobol, a brief commentary; because folks want to know why P&E gave Sobol those ratings for its award and agency.

  First off, there was a fee. P&E has a long established policy of not recommending any contests with fees. We even post that on the pages where P&E lists contests in case we forget to mention it beside that listing when it's known or we missed finding that information when visiting the contest site when there is one.

  Second, the numbers just didn't add up in a positive manner. Sobol's site makes it clear they're a for profit organization. Stating that they would accept up to 50,000 entries and that entries had to be from unpublished writers only accentuated the fact that the contest was aimed largely at those with little to no understanding of publishing and quite possibly math as well. Those two facts alone awakened loud warning bells in P&E's ears.

  Third, subtle emails from their lawyer to P&E about discriminating against Sobol because some other listings with fees didn't have "not recommended" beside them within P&E's pages, despite the fact that there were clear warnings at both the top and bottom of the page, didn't give P&E any reason to be enamored of Sobol. One would think that someone in the literary field and someone in the legal profession would recognize that our recommendations which are P&E's opinions are bound to be discriminatory because that is the nature of making recommendations. Besides, the very act of Sobol's competition involves and requires discrimination in order to annoint a winner.

  Fourth, P&E was bothered by the fact that Sobol's competition required a signature up front making them the legal representative for all entries reaching Round 2, especially since Sobol has no track record of sales and apparently doesn't represent anyone as yet. In effect, the only way to become a Sobol Literary Agency client is to enter their contest and that means paying a fee which equates to paying a reading fee.

  Fifth, P&E is concerned about the fact that the contest doesn't even try to categorize the entries. Does this mean that a manuscript in a genre where average sales are typically lower actually stands an equal chance of winning when it would be to the agency's advantage if an entry in a category with higher sales potential was the winner instead? Most agents select books to represent that are of the type they prefer to read. Otherwise, they'd feel uncomfortable and probably be ineffective trying to sell it to a publisher. Sobol Literary Agency appears to have no preferences which leads P&E to view it as closer in relation to those other agencies with upfront fees and no sales rather than to successful agencies with specific preferences and real track records of sales.

  Were there more reasons? Yes, but we're not going to bother going into all the other reasons that P&E took into consideration before issuing its opinion in the form of "not recommended". We don't want to make it too easy for them to clean up a real mess so that it might actually pass the smell test for someone with sinus problems. The ones we've listed are significant enough.

• 10/14/06 - Sobol responds... poorly.

• 1/8/07 - Sobol Award canceled. According to the Associated Press, the Sobol Award has been discontinued because it could not overcome the lack of good publicity and the overwhelming bad publicity. According to its sponsors, the entry fees will be refunded.

First Place: $100 (U.S.) in cash, plus publication in Rogue Worlds E-zine.

Second Place: $50 (U.S.) in cash, plus publication in Rogue Worlds E-zine.

Third Place: $25 (U.S). in cash, plus publication in Rogue Worlds E-zine.

Note: There will also be an additional cash bonus if entry fees exceed $500 dollars; whatever goes over that mark will be split equally amongst the winners.

Entry Fee: $5, plus $2 for each additional entry. Please make your checks or money-orders (US FUNDS ONLY) out to Doyle Eldon Wilmoth, Jr. 4315 Boulder Hwy #60, Las Vegas, NV 89121-3020. Make sure to fill out and print our Entry Form and send it along with your payment.

Submission Tracking: You can check out and see if your story has been logged in here. I'll list your title and the date sent along with status of your payment once it has arrived.

Deadline: January 15, 2002.

Open to: High Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery fiction. No urban or modern day settings.

Length: Between 1k-20k/words.

Taboos: No Fan Fiction. No porn. No gore. No child abuse stories.

Submit entries to: specficworld@hotmail.com. Put "HIGH FANTASY CONTEST" in the subject line. E-MAIL SUBMISSIONS ONLY.

Format: Send stories in plain text, pasted into the body of the e-mail, or as an attachment. Put your real name, title of story, word count, brief bio, snail-mail and e-mail address somewhere at the top of the first page.

Notification: Only the winners will be notified by e-mail of the results on March 15, 2001. The rest of the contestants can find the winning stories listed on the SpecFicWorld.com website on March 15, 2001.

Note of Publication: I also require that all the winners allow me to publish their stories in Rogue Worlds E-zine for a maximum of 90 days.

Payment: All winners will be paid in cash no later than April 15, 2001.

Copyright: Authors retain all Copyrights to their work.

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