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abracanabraHere's the tentative guidelines. Please read through and tell me whether or not I've forgotten anything! Thanks.
[On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas]
Guidelines
On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas is a contest for speculative winter holiday-themed fiction, artwork, and poetry. The holiday may be fictional or real; it may be Christmas as we know and love it, or it may be something much stranger.
What do I mean by speculative? I mean science fiction, fantasy, or even horror, of traditional and modern varieties. Mixed genres or slipstream is okay. Horror must be of the supernatural, dark science fiction, or dark fantasy variety. However, although I am including horror, I am not accepting relentlessly downbeat submissions. This is a celebration of the holiday season, so I have a couple of caveats. There must be at least one sympathetic character (for fiction and poetry), and there must be at least a glimmer of hope at the end.
Use of non-traditional or just plain bad grammar and spelling makes me very, very cranky.
Deadlines:
Entries must be first posted between Thanksgiving (November 23rd) and Christmas (December 25th). They must stay online until Groundhog Day (February 2nd) or until the winners are announced (Groundhog Day is the outside deadline that I'm setting myself for the decision).
Prizes:
$25 for fiction, $15 for artwork, and $5 for poetry. Not to mention the joy and delight of spreading the spirit of Christmas...and twisting it to your own ends.
Specifications:
There is no entry fee.
One submission only.
Reprints are perfectly okay, though I'd like to know where the work previously appeared.
Fiction may be of any length, from short-short to novella, but if it runs past 10,000 words it better be pretty amazing.
Artwork may be in any medium, so long as it fits the theme. The image size must be roughly 800-900 pixels wide and no more than 800 pixels high.
Poetry may be in any style, from medieval traditional to free-form.
How to submit (and here's where it gets interesting):
The point of this contest is to share the (speculative) spirit of Christmas. To submit, you must place your story/artwork/poem on the internet in a publicly accessible forum. This means your website, your blog, a shared documents/images service that allows you to share with everyone, or an online community that you belong to. This should be an ad-free space with no pop-ups, and it should not be cluttered up with lots of links. I understand that some free website providers have banner ads that cannot be removed, and I will make allowances for this. If you like, you are welcome to put up a simple "donate" or "tip" button from Paypal or a similar service on your submission page. You must be able to provide a static address link for your submission. Do not use weird fonts or colors for poetry or fiction submissions.
When you post your submission online, you must include the following text in the upper left-hand corner:
This [story/artwork/poem] is a part of the On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas contest for speculative winter holiday-themed fiction, artwork, and poetry. You may find descriptions of and links to other entries at [contest URL here].
It should be noted that many online magazines count posting a short story online on your website as publication. Most of them don't count password-protected communities. I will allow stories posted in such an area (approved on a case-by-case basis, so mention it in your email, along with short instructions on how to view the submission page), so long as anybody can join a) quickly, b) easily, and c) for free. This option may be discontinued partway through the contest for new submissions if it becomes too much of a hassle.
After you've posted your submission, send an email to [contest email here].
What to put in the submission email:
A link to your submission page.
Your full legal name and mailing address.
A pseudonym, if you would like to use this on your story instead of your real name.
A note stating whether or not there is violence, sex, or swearing in your story.
Do not send attachments.
For fiction and poetry, include a brief promotional "teaser" of thirty words or less. This should not be a summary of the work. Think of the cover copy on the back of a book.
For artwork, include a link to a "sample" of your submission. This sample should be 100 x 100 pixels. This sample may be a scaled-down version of your artwork, it may be a small portion of the piece, or it may be a combination of the two.
Include the following chunk of legalese:
By submitting work to this contest, I agree that this work is entirely my own and that I have the rights to it. During the contest process, I understand that my submission may be commented on in a public forum in a positive or negative manner, though no submission title or submitter name will be used in association with negative comments by the contest judge. If my submission is chosen to win, I agree to grant exclusive rights allowing it to be published on the [On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas] website for a period of two months after the contest winners are announced and to grant non-exclusive reprint rights during the contest period (Thanksgiving through Groundhog Day) next year. I understand that a winning submission will be archived on the site as the site manager determines, though it will be removed at my request except for the two time periods defined above. If my submission is not chosen to win, I understand that the site may at its discretion continue to link to the submission unless I request otherwise.
What I will do with submissions:
I will post links to all submissions on the contest website, along with the submission teaser or sample, updated weekly. I'm planning on creating a weekly "featured submissions" page, where I'll put up a very short excerpt or mid-size sample (I will request) of artwork, along with a link to the submission. If you don't want to be considered for this, just let me know in your email.
If this contest goes well, I will probably repeat it annually. If it goes well enough for enough years, I will probably try to put together a print "Best of" anthology. That's all way in the future, and I would contact and acquire permissions from creators as necessary at that time.
[On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas]
Guidelines
On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas is a contest for speculative winter holiday-themed fiction, artwork, and poetry. The holiday may be fictional or real; it may be Christmas as we know and love it, or it may be something much stranger.
What do I mean by speculative? I mean science fiction, fantasy, or even horror, of traditional and modern varieties. Mixed genres or slipstream is okay. Horror must be of the supernatural, dark science fiction, or dark fantasy variety. However, although I am including horror, I am not accepting relentlessly downbeat submissions. This is a celebration of the holiday season, so I have a couple of caveats. There must be at least one sympathetic character (for fiction and poetry), and there must be at least a glimmer of hope at the end.
Use of non-traditional or just plain bad grammar and spelling makes me very, very cranky.
Deadlines:
Entries must be first posted between Thanksgiving (November 23rd) and Christmas (December 25th). They must stay online until Groundhog Day (February 2nd) or until the winners are announced (Groundhog Day is the outside deadline that I'm setting myself for the decision).
Prizes:
$25 for fiction, $15 for artwork, and $5 for poetry. Not to mention the joy and delight of spreading the spirit of Christmas...and twisting it to your own ends.
Specifications:
There is no entry fee.
One submission only.
Reprints are perfectly okay, though I'd like to know where the work previously appeared.
Fiction may be of any length, from short-short to novella, but if it runs past 10,000 words it better be pretty amazing.
Artwork may be in any medium, so long as it fits the theme. The image size must be roughly 800-900 pixels wide and no more than 800 pixels high.
Poetry may be in any style, from medieval traditional to free-form.
How to submit (and here's where it gets interesting):
The point of this contest is to share the (speculative) spirit of Christmas. To submit, you must place your story/artwork/poem on the internet in a publicly accessible forum. This means your website, your blog, a shared documents/images service that allows you to share with everyone, or an online community that you belong to. This should be an ad-free space with no pop-ups, and it should not be cluttered up with lots of links. I understand that some free website providers have banner ads that cannot be removed, and I will make allowances for this. If you like, you are welcome to put up a simple "donate" or "tip" button from Paypal or a similar service on your submission page. You must be able to provide a static address link for your submission. Do not use weird fonts or colors for poetry or fiction submissions.
When you post your submission online, you must include the following text in the upper left-hand corner:
This [story/artwork/poem] is a part of the On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas contest for speculative winter holiday-themed fiction, artwork, and poetry. You may find descriptions of and links to other entries at [contest URL here].
It should be noted that many online magazines count posting a short story online on your website as publication. Most of them don't count password-protected communities. I will allow stories posted in such an area (approved on a case-by-case basis, so mention it in your email, along with short instructions on how to view the submission page), so long as anybody can join a) quickly, b) easily, and c) for free. This option may be discontinued partway through the contest for new submissions if it becomes too much of a hassle.
After you've posted your submission, send an email to [contest email here].
What to put in the submission email:
A link to your submission page.
Your full legal name and mailing address.
A pseudonym, if you would like to use this on your story instead of your real name.
A note stating whether or not there is violence, sex, or swearing in your story.
Do not send attachments.
For fiction and poetry, include a brief promotional "teaser" of thirty words or less. This should not be a summary of the work. Think of the cover copy on the back of a book.
For artwork, include a link to a "sample" of your submission. This sample should be 100 x 100 pixels. This sample may be a scaled-down version of your artwork, it may be a small portion of the piece, or it may be a combination of the two.
Include the following chunk of legalese:
By submitting work to this contest, I agree that this work is entirely my own and that I have the rights to it. During the contest process, I understand that my submission may be commented on in a public forum in a positive or negative manner, though no submission title or submitter name will be used in association with negative comments by the contest judge. If my submission is chosen to win, I agree to grant exclusive rights allowing it to be published on the [On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas] website for a period of two months after the contest winners are announced and to grant non-exclusive reprint rights during the contest period (Thanksgiving through Groundhog Day) next year. I understand that a winning submission will be archived on the site as the site manager determines, though it will be removed at my request except for the two time periods defined above. If my submission is not chosen to win, I understand that the site may at its discretion continue to link to the submission unless I request otherwise.
What I will do with submissions:
I will post links to all submissions on the contest website, along with the submission teaser or sample, updated weekly. I'm planning on creating a weekly "featured submissions" page, where I'll put up a very short excerpt or mid-size sample (I will request) of artwork, along with a link to the submission. If you don't want to be considered for this, just let me know in your email.
If this contest goes well, I will probably repeat it annually. If it goes well enough for enough years, I will probably try to put together a print "Best of" anthology. That's all way in the future, and I would contact and acquire permissions from creators as necessary at that time.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 08:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-11-02 08:56 pm (UTC)What do you think of the alternate titles?