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Articles -
Articles About Contests
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Written by Grace Tierney
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2004-12-14 |
Seasonal Contests – Timing is Everything
‘Let me help you to find the perfect writing contest to enter and leave you free to do what you’re good at, writing.’
by Grace Tierney
As any writer of humor knows, the timing is key. You have to pace the punch-line just right to garner the loudest laughs.
What writers sometimes forget is that timing is pretty important in
relation to winning contests as well. You have to give
yourself enough time to craft a perfect entry and even more time to
revise it for submission, but what do you do when the
contest itself has time at its very core?
I’m talking about seasonal contests. There are plenty of them about and if you can work to a theme or if you find holidays
and seasons inspiring, then you should give them a try. I’m not just
talking about Christmas contests either, which is just
as well as most of those contests have closed for this year already in
a classic case of timing being vital in such matters.
There are also contests for Spring, Halloween, Valentine’s Day etc. and
don’t be surprized to find their deadlines falling
up to three months ahead of the holidays themselves.
Many seasonal contests provide a built-in theme as a starting point for writers so if you can get your writing brain around
the idea of composing autumnal haiku at midsummer then you are in with a chance.
C. Hope Clark of www.fundsforwriters.com
even has an e-book called ‘Tis the Season’, which contains plenty of markets for your seasonal writing and advice on how to
write in this way. So when you create your writing goals for 2005 and
you want to include some contest entries, check out
some of the seasonal contests I’ve hunted down in this issue and put a reminder about them on your calendar so you
don’t run out of time.
What else is in this edition? I’ve 27 contests in my regular round-up for the month and they will lead us up to the 31st of
January deadlines. Remember that many writers will relax their writing
schedules at this time of year, so if you can seize
any time during the holidays to write you will ride ahead of the posse
for these contests. Go on, open 2005 with a contest win.
Nollaig Shona Duit!
(‘Happy Christmas’ in Irish, pronounced ‘null-ag hun-ah dit’)
All contests are annual unless otherwise noted and all are open to international writers
The Countryside Tales Magazine Winter Poetry Competition
http://www.parkpublications.co.uk/writingcompetion.htm
Seasonal poetry and short fiction contests
Various deadlines, regular contests
Margin Free Verse Contest
http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/margin/contests.html
Free verse and short fiction contests, previous themes included Winter
Various deadlines
ReadingWriters First Chapter Contest
http://www.readingwriters.com/contest.htm
January is about new beginnings so send the start of your new novel
They also run contests throughout the year with themes such as Summer
January 31
Asinine Poetry Contest
http://www.asininepoetry.com/contest/7
Poetry - rhyme, haiku, or sonnet on the theme of any and all holidays
October 15
The Dome's Halloween Short Story contest
(includes a section for younger writers and for flash fiction in this genre)
http://groups.msn.com/
Halloween themed short fiction
October 19
True Life Story Contest
http://www.truelifestorycontest.com/
Creative non-fiction with the theme of Christmas and other topics
November 11
Coming Soon to the Writing Contest Department Forthcoming
features will focus on personal essays, plays, screenplays, haiku,
quirky contests, non-fiction writing, no-fee contests, humor writing,
short story contests, travel writing, writing for children, speculative
fiction, contests with unusual prizes, mystery writing contests, and
romantic contests.
I’m always looking for new
contest types to research so if you’re looking for a particular type of
contest for your writing, just drop me a line. I’d also love to hear
from you if you win a contest you read about here or if you have a
contest to suggest for inclusion. Please note that I will only include
contests that are open to writers anywhere in the world as our readers
are geographically dispersed.
Contest Deadlines from January 1 to 31
January 5
TooWrite non-fiction writing competition
True-life non-fiction writing, first person tales
www.toowrite.com
January 5
Byline Free Verse Contest
Poetry: Any subject or length, unrhymed
http://www.bylinemag.com/contests.asp
January 10
Pen and Page Writing Contest
Short fiction, poetry, non-fiction or essay, play
http://www.penandpagemag.com/contest.html
January 19
The 2-Day Poem Contest
Poetry written within a two day window of time using all 10 words provided
http://www.contemporaryverse2.ca/
January 22
WritersWeekly Winter 24 Hour Short Story Contest
Short story written in 24 hours from receiving the topic
http://www.writersweekly.com/misc/contest.html
January 28
Heyward Broun Award
Non-fiction published or broadcast during 2004 in print media, web sites, magazines, radio, TV
http://www.newsguild.org/awards/display.php?storyID=906
January 28
Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition
Poetry
http://www.academi.org
January 30
The Writer2Writer Contest
Flash fiction - opening to a novel or short fiction based on photograph prompt
http://www.writer2writer.com/contest.htm
January 31
A Womans Write Contest
Essay, short fiction, non-fiction
www.awomanswrite.com
January 31
Quantum Barbarian of the Year Writing Contest
Short fiction - Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror stories.
http://www.quantumbarbarian.com/contest1.html
January 31
Grain Magazine Short Grain Contest
Dramatic Monologue, Postcard Story, Prose Poem, and Long Grain of Truth
(creative non-fiction)
http://www.grainmagazine.ca/contest.htm
January 31
Starcherone Fiction Prize
Short fiction collections, novels, and prose
http://www.starcherone.com
January 31
Lamar York Prize for Non-Fiction
Essay, non-fiction
http://www.chattahoochee-review.org/
(click on prizes to find details of this contest)
January 31
ReadingWriters First Chapter Contest
First chapter of a novel
Grace Tierney
is a freelance writer who lives in Ireland. When she’s not researching
writing contests, she enjoys gluttony, reading, gardening, and travel.
Her short stories have been published in the US and UK, and her
non-fiction has been published in Ireland, the UK, America, and
Australia. She is a staff writer with Writer Online and Netsurfer Digest. Contact Grace via www.gracetierney.com |
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