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Welcome to Our July Newsletter
We found
over two
dozen quality free poetry and prose contests with deadlines
between July 15-August 31.
In this issue: The celebrated final passage
from "Little Gidding" by T.S. Eliot, illustrated by Julian
Peters.
Coming in our August 15 newsletter: We'll announce
the winners of our Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest.
Open Now
TOM
HOWARD/MARGARET REID POETRY CONTEST
15th year. We will award the Tom Howard Prize of $1,500 for a poem in
any style or genre, and the Margaret Reid Prize of $1,500 for a poem
that rhymes or has a traditional style. Ten Honorable Mentions will
receive $100 each (any style). The top 12 entries will be published
online. Length limit: 250 lines per poem. Entry fee: $12 per poem.
Final judge: S. Mei Sheng Frazier,
assisted by Jim DuBois. Deadline:
September 30. Submit
online here.
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Sign
up today and you'll...
·
Learn from feedback that will be
written on everything you write. Share your poetry, stories and book
chapters.
·
Be a part of a community
for writers of all skill levels. Make connections and
friends.
Upcoming contest deadlines:
Four
Line Poem Contest
Write a four line poem that has a specific syllable count. The first
line has 1 syllable, the second line has 5 syllables, the third line
has 5 syllables, and the last line has 9 syllables. Any subject. $100
cash prize. Deadline: July 20.
Antonym
Poetry Contest
Write a four line poem. The first line is only one word. Second and
third line can be formatted as you wish. The last line is the antonym
of the word on the first line. The winner takes away $100.
Deadline: July 25.
Three
Line Poem Contest
We are looking for an unrhymed poem of 17 or 19 syllables. It has the
following syllable counts: 5/7/5 or 5/7/7. Win
$100. Deadline: July 30.
Dialogue
Only Writing Contest
Write a story of any length using only dialogue. No narration,
descriptions, or sentence tags. Winner receives $100.
Deadline: August 3.
Free
Verse Poetry Contest
Free verse has no fixed meter and no structure regarding rhyme and
lines in each stanza. $100 cash for the winner.
Deadline: August 7.
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Congratulations to Linda
Heuring, Radha Marcum (featured
poem: "His
Ghost Returns to Frijoles Canyon"), Trish
Hopkinson (featured poem: "Reconstructed
Happiness"), Gary Beck (featured poem: "Sensory
Experience"), Mike Tuohy, Diane
Lockward, Naila Moreira, Duane
L. Herrmann, J. Paul Cooper, Cristofer
Lentsch, Jefferson Carter, Fateme
Banishoeib, Sue Ann Culp, and Carolyn
Howard-Johnson.
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This
Supportive and Inspiring 4-Week Online Poetry Retreat was created by
poets for poets.
WHAT YOU
NEED: Access to email and a desire
to write new poems.
WHAT WE
PROVIDE: Poem prompts, sample poems, a
Two Sylvias Press publication (your choice), a softcover journal
created specifically for retreat participants, creativity suggestions,
and reflection questions/activities to guide and inspire. All prompts,
writing exercises, and inspiration sent daily or weekly to your email
(your choice!)
AND at the end of the retreat,
the editors at Two Sylvias Press also critique two of your poems and
offer ideas on where to submit them!
Space is
limited! July sold out. Register now for our August retreat. Due to
popular demand, we have added an October retreat as well.
All levels of
poet welcome (from beginning to published author)
Supportive, nurturing, and helpful feedback on two of your poems and
suggestions on where to submit them.
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Submission period: July 1-31
(postmark or online-submission date)
Tupelo Press is holding open
submissions for book-length poetry collections (48-90 pages) and
chapbook-length poetry collections (28-47 pages), and manuscripts of
any length of English poetry translations from any language.
Submissions are accepted from
anyone writing in the English language (whether in the United States or
abroad). A reading fee of $30 (U.S.) must accompany each submission.
Include a cover page with the title of your manuscript, your name,
address, phone number and email address. Submit online via Submittable
or by mail to:
Open
Submissions
Tupelo Press
P.O. Box 1767
North Adams, MA 01247
Please enjoy this selection by
Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, who first came to Tupelo Press through the July
Open Reading Period with her winning collection, Personal
Science (Tupelo Press, 2017). For more information about Personal
Science, and our canon of 100+ books, please visit our
website: https://www.tupelopress.org/
The
gunslinger neuron
by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram
Everyone should get in touch
with their inner fate
of snow afflicted by a bad case
of the doldrums.
Reader, I would not live in a
powderless tree: If I could
I would align myself with the
powerscape.
At times I practice being sad
in the mirror.
I practice a blister. My murder
face.
Of what I remind myself I am
not sure.
Some calypso in the distance.
Beakers of candid morning.
A snow cannot be a lie.
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Deadline: August 15
All poets writing in English
are invited to submit manuscripts to the Grayson
Books Poetry Prize. Use the submission
manager to submit your 50-80 page manuscript electronically.
Or send your work in the mail with two cover pages (one with complete
contact info, one with no contact info), a reading fee of $25, and a
SASE for results to:
Grayson Books
P.O. Box 270549
West Hartford, CT 06127
The winner will be awarded a
$1,000 prize, publication, and 10 copies. Simultaneous submissions are
acceptable if we are notified immediately about an acceptance elsewhere.
Acknowledgments may be included, but are not required.
Barbara
Crooker (pictured
above) is this year's judge. A widely-published poet who has won many
prizes and awards, her Selected Poems came out in
2015.
Congratulations to William
Wells, the winner of the 2016 Grayson Books Poetry
Contest. Our judge, Benjamin Grossberg, chose his collection Odd
Lots, Scraps, and Second-Hand, Like New from a pool of many
outstanding manuscripts. Please enjoy this poem from the book:
Smashing
Glass in Hobo-Town
In weeds between the river and
the tracks
a row of shanties straggled parallel,
contrived from boxes and dismembered crates.
Companies of passed-out bums lay sprawled,
clutching their guts like the dead at Gettysburg.
Craig's brother, all of twelve,
gave the command
and led a charge of ten-year olds. We snatched
the empty flasks that glinted full of dawn
and flung them like grenades, exploding dreams,
the salvaged last reprieves from boxcar straw.
Reluctant warrior, I hung back
to watch
those crumpled forms reanimate, roused
from stupor to resume their truncheoned lives,
one more indignity that riled them
into action. We ran; they stumbled after.
One came close to catching me,
his blasted
stare supplying nightmare's standard issue.
Thus I surrendered sleep for spoiling his,
my shoulder throbbing where he almost grabbed,
my face red-badged with panic's powder burns.
Some wounds don't heal, and
civil wars go on.
When Craig shipped home from Nam, addicted,
his brother was the cop who made the bust.
The fall of empires and the faults of men
are chronicled by gleaming shards of glass.
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$1,000 award and publication
·
Entry fee: $25
·
Submit a manuscript of up to
75-100 pages
·
Previously published works may
be entered
·
$1,000 award and publication
·
Entry fee: $25
·
Submit a novella of up to
50,000 words or a manuscript of short stories of up to 200 pages
·
Any well-written manuscript on
any topic will be considered
·
Previously published works may
be entered
We are proud to announce that Rupert
Fike of Georgia has won the 2016 Violet Reed Haas Prize
for his poetry collection, Hello the House, and Tom
Benz of Chicago has won the Serena McDonald Kennedy
Award for his collection of short stories, Home & Castle.
See
selections from their work.
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The premise for short story
contest #30 is "Community". They say it takes a village to
raise a child, but that's just one example of a kind of community and
just one way a community can affect your life. There are plenty of
others—good, bad, and otherwise. So for this contest, write a creative,
compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in
which community (or some kind of community) plays an important role.
Deadline: Friday, September 1,
2017, 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
Winners receive between US$60
and US$220, and publication. There is no fee to enter our contest.
GENRE NOTE: Any genre except
children's fiction, exploitative sex, or over-the-top gross-out horror
is fine. We will also never accept parodies of another author's
specific fictional character(s) or world(s). No exceptions!
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Deadline: September 11
Creative Nonfiction is currently seeking experimental nonfiction for
the "Exploring the Boundaries" section
("experimental," "boundaries" ... yes, we know
these can be loaded terms). We're looking for writing that is
ambitious, pushes against the conventional boundaries of the genre,
plays with style and form, and makes its own rules. As always, we have
only one absolute rule: nonfiction must be based in fact.
Please note that this is
NOT a call for an entire "Exploring the Boundaries" issue of
the magazine; accepted pieces will be published one per issue, and the
earliest possible publication will be in Issue #67 (Spring 2018).
All essays submitted will be
considered for publication; this is a paying market.
Essays must be previously
unpublished and no longer than 4,500 words. All essays must tell true
stories and be factually accurate. Everything we publish goes through a
rigorous fact-checking process, and editors may ask for sources and
citations.
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Deadline: October 15
The 2017 New
Writer Awards at Sequestrum award over $500 in prizes and
publication to writers of short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who
have yet to publish a book-length manuscript. Two first-prize winners
(one fiction/nonfiction, one poetry) will receive $200 each. A minimum
of one runner-up per genre will receive publication and a cash prize.
Finalists last year included
many new, emerging, and even first-time writers. All finalists are
listed on the website. Enter online. No length (short story/essay) or
theme restrictions. Complete guidelines here: https://www.sequestrum.org/contests
Sequestrum has an international
readership of 2,500+ per month and publishes poetry and prose on a
rolling basis. All publications are paired with a stunning visual
component. Past contributors include Guggenheim and NEA Fellows,
Pulitzer Prize finalists, as well as many new and emerging voices.
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Deadline: October 23
The Writing Pittsburgh Book
Prize will recognize one book focusing on a subject of regional and
national significance, by a writer with a meaningful Pittsburgh
connection. The author of the winning manuscript will receive a $10,000
honorarium; publication of their book by the Creative Nonfiction
Foundation's independent book imprint, In Fact Books (IFB); national
distribution; and a marketing and publicity campaign.
Manuscripts will be judged on
originality; the subject's broad appeal and resonance with a national
readership; interpretation of the "Writing Pittsburgh" theme;
and literary quality and strength of prose. The selected book might be
an in-depth reporting project focusing on one organization, individual,
or event; alternatively, it might be a more personal writing
project—for example, a memoir. All submissions will be judged by CNF's
editorial staff.
The winning author will work
with CNF/IFB's editorial staff to refine and polish the manuscript.
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FundsforWriters
is internationally known for its level-headed yet tough-love advice to
writers, both emerging and seasoned. Recognized by Writer's Digest for
its 101 Best Websites for Writers for over 15 years, the site serves up
plates full of motivation also delivered in the weekly newsletter to
35,000 readers. The Best of
FundsforWriters, Vol. 1 offers 32 essays and how-to
strategies that struck positive chords with readers around the globe.
"FundsforWriters
helps writers achieve more success with their writing by finding and sharing the
information that writers need to fund their writing."
—Robert Lee Brewer, Editor, Writer's Market
"FFW is
quite simply the best online resource for writers. I get dozens of writers' newsletters in my inbox
every week, but FFW is the only one I read right away, from top to
bottom, and save for future reference. Hope Clark rocks."
—Glenn Walker, Editor-in-chief of the pop culture website, www.BiffBamPop.com
"No
matter what kind of writer you want to be, FundsforWriters gives you
the resources, guidance and inspiration we all need to hone our craft. All writers need hope, and C. Hope Clark's
FundsforWriters brings you the tools, resources and real world
knowledge that will make you a better writer."
—Mark Lund, award-winning magazine publisher, screenwriter and
filmmaker
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
Well known throughout the writing industry, C. Hope
Clark founded FundsforWriters two decades ago when she could
not find what she wanted for her own writing career. Today, she is
editor of FundsforWriters, an award-winning author of two mystery series,
and an active freelance entrepreneur. She and her motivational voice
and writer support message appear often at conferences, nonprofit
galas, book clubs, libraries, and writers' groups across the country.
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Deadline: November 6
Every decision we make, whether
as individuals or as a society, involves some risk—whether physical or
emotional, economic or legal, social or spiritual. Our comfort level
with uncertainty defines not only our choices in any given situation,
but how we live.
For a special
issue of Creative
Nonfiction
magazine, we're seeking true stories illustrating the ways we balance
the threat of loss against the promise of gain.
Possible subjects could be big
or small, personal or public. We're interested in intersections between
deeply personal decisions and those that affect larger communities.
·
How is risk intertwined with
life decisions like entering relationships, starting or ending a
pregnancy, or revealing a sexual or gender preference?
·
How do the risks associated
with social interactions, whether online or in person, affect people's
behavior or speech?
·
How does risk relate to deeply
held religious and/or political beliefs, especially within a
pluralistic society?
·
Why do some people actively
seek risk, and how does this affect their quality of life?
·
How are emerging technologies
such as gene editing and artificial intelligence changing the nature of
the risks we face?
·
How do we think about and
approach potentially catastrophic risks such as a large asteroid
colliding with the earth, nuclear war, or the possibility of artificial
intelligence superseding human intelligence?
Above all, we are looking for
vivid narratives—true stories, rich with scene, character, detail, and
a distinctive voice—with unique insights into these questions.
Creative Nonfiction editors will award $1,000 for best essay and $500
for runner-up, and all essays submitted will be considered for
publication.
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Winning Writers editor Jendi
Reiter's fourth poetry book and second full-length
collection, Bullies in Love,
is available from Little
Red Tree Publishing, with illustrations by fine art
photographer and Massachusetts Cultural Council award winner Toni
Pepe. Poems in this collection have won prizes from Atlanta
Review, Anderbo, Alligator Juniper, Descant, New Millennium Writings,
Solstice Literary Magazine, Wag's Revue, and others.
Based in North Platte, NE, Little
Red Tree publishes books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and
art that "delight, entertain, and educate", as well as the
print and online literary magazine Peacock
Journal.
"This
book is an immensely enjoyable, sometimes beautiful, and often moving
romp—tamed and targeted
rage—through the hazardous territory of inter-personal and political
relationships. Reiter's way with contemporary American English is
acutely sensitive, and I cannot think of a better way to address the
apparent oxymoron of the collection's title. It is a full, rich
book—you will get your money's worth. It is also often laugh out loud
funny—an impressive rarity in poetry that is also serious."
—E. Taylor, 5-star Amazon review
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Some contests are best suited
to writers at the early stages of their careers. Others are better for
writers with numerous prizes and publications to their credit. Here is
this month's selection of Spotlight Contests for your consideration:
Emerging Writers
Diverse
Writers/Diverse Worlds Grants. Two grants (Diverse Writers
and Diverse Worlds) of $500 apiece for book-length speculative fiction
rich in diversity. Diverse Writers is for "underrepresented and
underprivileged groups...whose marginalized identities may present
additional obstacles in the writing/publishing process"; Diverse
Worlds is for "work that best presents a diverse world, regardless
of the writer's background". Due July 31.
Intermediate Writers
PEN/Phyllis
Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. A fellowship of $5,000 to
an author of children's or young adult fiction. An eligible candidate
is a writer of children's or YA fiction in financial need. Due
September 15.
Advanced Writers
Rogers
Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. The Writers' Trust of Canada
awards C$25,000 for novels or short story collections published in
Canada between October 1 of the previous year and September 30 of the
deadline year by Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Due July 19.
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·
For the
Sonorous (writing and art by women and nonbinary people of
color - July 31)
·
Rainbow
Awards (published and self-published LGBTQ books - September
5)
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Mr. Peters writes, "A few
months ago, the American magazine Plough Quarterly commissioned me to
create a comics adaptation of the celebrated final section of T. S.
Eliot's poem "Little
Gidding", the last of his Four Quartets."
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Scandalous
Trademarks and My Little Piece of Supreme Court History
The Lanham Act is the federal law governing trademark registrations and
lawsuits. A little-known provision of that law, Section 2(a), forbids
registration of marks that are "immoral…or scandalous" or
bring persons, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols "into
contempt or disrepute"...
...As a poet, I've always been
sensitive to the slippery, multivalent nature of words, and protective
of their freedom to exceed and evade their official definitions.
Fundamentalism, whether religious or political, is characterized by the
claim that certain words and symbols have a single universal meaning.
But words are not fixed objects to be fought over, so much as they are
the territory where our battles for power and truth play out.
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