As we begin to sneak through July, I've been getting the occasional mailed reminder that there is an ongoing Short Fiction Contest going on in the EWN confines. With the deadline of August 15 for stories being postmarked and arriving at the prescribed address looming, I thought I'd re-post the original announcement to remind those that may have been interested and had forgotten:
2006 EMERGING WRITERS NETWORK SHORT FICTION CONTEST
I am excited to announce what I hope to be the first annual Emerging Writers Network Short Fiction Contest. The winning story will be posted on this blog during the month of December 2006, and will also find itself published inthe Spring 2007 issue of Frostproof Review. The author will also receive $500.
While the stories will all initially be read and evaluated by myself, 20 finalists will be passed along to this year's Guest Judge: Charles D'Ambrosio!! He will select a winner out of these 20 finalists and write a brief introduction as to what it was that jumped out at him, and elevated it to the top of his pile. Charles D'Ambrosio has published a short story collection, The Point, as well as a collection of essays, Orphans. In April 2006, his second collection of stories, Dead Fish Museum, will be published by Knopf.
Now for the W's:
Entry Fee: $10
Deadline: All stories must be physically mailed and arrive with a postmark of August 15, 2006 or earlier (and feel free to start sending as early as today)
Length: Stories must be between 3000 and 8000 words in length
Rules:
No former classmates of either Charles D'Ambrosio or Dan Wickett are eligible to win.
No students, former students, or former instructors of either Charles D'Ambrosio or Dan Wickett are eligible to win.
No family members of either Charles D'Ambrosio or Dan Wickett are eligible to win.
Of the 20 stories selected by Dan Wickett as finalists, at least half will come from non-EWN members (to ensure no pro-EWN member bias on my part, unintentional or not). This caveat relies on having received at least 10 submissions from non-EWN members.
The 20 finalists will be sent to Charles D'Ambrosio with no author names - he will be selecting his winner blindly. Once he's made a choice - we will verify that D'Ambrisio has never been a student of, or with, the author; nor a former classmate of the author; nor a family member of the author. At that point, we will announce the winner.
The 20 finalist titles and authors will be listed on this blog in the winner announcement post, again, in December 2006.
As this is an EMERGING WRITERS network - only authors who have (or will have) published three books or less as of December 31, 2006 will be eligible to win.
Manuscripts, and checks of $10 (made out to Dan Wickett) per entry, should be mailed to:
Dan Wickett
EWN 2006 Short Fiction Contest
Westland, MI 48186
Dan, is there any way you could read the submissions blind? That way, you wouldn't know who were members and non-members and couldn't be accused of bias.
I just think even non-members would want to know their stories were chosen on the basis of quality alone.
Just a thought.
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy Fish | June 09, 2006 at 11:16 AM
Being a novice at this Kathy, I couldn't think of a way upfront without having somebody else involved - and the EWN is still a one-person venture.
I do believe as entries are coming in now that the twenty stories being sent to Charles will all be excellent stories and that the top few stories both from EWN members and non-members will be of a quality level that they'd have been in the 10 stories from the other category.
If somebody with more contest experience can pass along the means of doing such a blind reading without dragging more people into the process, I can incorporate it into next year's contest.
Posted by: Dan Wickett | June 09, 2006 at 11:57 AM
Yes, I think blind reading does, by necessity, involve an administrative person, aside from the reader or readers, to track submissions and separate them from the writers' information.
Well, best of luck with the contest, Dan.
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy Fish | June 09, 2006 at 12:01 PM