Spark: A Creative Anthology Contest Five
Details
Deadline: | Apr 1, 2014 |
Fee: | Free. Entrants may make an optional donation at http://SparkAnthology.org/support |
Entry Opens March 15, 2014.
Theme
The theme for this contest is “Fables.”
Fables have been a part of storytelling as long as we’ve been telling stories. Fables do more than entertain: they also present a lesson or attempt to teach a moral. Traditionally, fables feature anthropomorphic animals as main character(s).
For the best chance of winning this writing contest, your story or poem should feature at least one animal as a primary character—does not have to be the protagonist, and does not have to speak, but certainly can do both—and should contain a lesson or moral. The lesson or moral may be humorous or somber.
Guest Judges
- Helena Bell, poet and writer
- Brittani Sonnenberg, writer and NPR contributor
Formats
- Poetry: Any style, meter, rhyme scheme, or form, but must be less than 150 lines.
- Prose: Fiction or creative nonfiction must be no more than 12,000 words.
Awards
There are prizes for both poetry and prose categories, so each prize level has two winners. The Grand Prize award package includes cash, publication, and a Lifetime Premium Membership here at Scribophile. See the contest details page at http://SparkAnthology.org/contests/five for the full prize list.
How to Enter
This contest is not hosted by Scribophile, so posting it for critique won’t enter you in the contest (but it will increase your chances of winning)! For full contest guidelines, rules & restrictions, and links to enter your work, see http://SparkAnthology.org/contests/five.
About the Guest Judges
Helena Bell is a poet and writer living in Raleigh, North Carolina where she is an MFA candidate in Fiction at NC State University. She has a BA, another MFA, a JD, and an LLM in Taxation which fulfills her lifelong ambition of having more letters follow her name than are actually in it. She is a graduate of the Clarion West Workshop and her fiction and poetry have appeared in Clarkesworld, Shimmer, Electric Velocipede, the Indiana Review, Margie Review, Pedestal Magazine and Rattle. Her story “Robot” was a nominee for the 2012 Nebula Award for Best Short Story.
Winning entries
Winners have been announced! Log in to see them.
Prizes
1st prize: | Too big to possibly list here |
Rules
For full contest guidelines, rules & restrictions, and links to enter your work, see http://SparkAnthology.org/contests/five.
Publication Rights remain with the author or poet. Grand Prize winners are not obligated to publish their winning entry in Spark, but if our publication offer is accepted, the cash portion of the prize serves to purchase First Publication rights as outlined on our Rights & Rates page. All other entrants retain full rights to submit and publish their entries as they wish.
Prose limits: We are looking for excellent writing and storytelling, not length. A compelling and well-written “flash fiction” piece has equal chance against a novelette. Prose must be less than 12,000 words.
Poetry limits: We are looking for evocative imagery that paints a small story in a poem. A haiku or tanka has equal chance against a sonnet or epic. Poetry must be less than 150 lines.
Only previously unpublished works will be considered.
You may enter a previously-written piece if you feel that it satisfies the prompt for this contest, so long as it has not been published.
There are no age restrictions for this contest other than legal restrictions imposed by your local jurisdiction.
In the event that a winner is ineligible for the Scribophile prize because of age or chooses to decline the membership, a three-year print and eBook subscription to Spark: A Creative Anthology will be substituted.
Spark: A Creative Anthology contest judges and their immediate families are not eligible.
Because entries are blindly judged, authors and poets who have previously had work accepted for any volume of Spark: A Creative Anthology may enter this contest. In the event that a Grand Prize winner is an author or poet whose work has been accepted for Spark: A Creative Anthology, Volume V, we may choose to postpone or decline publication of either the previously-accepted work or the winning contest entry.
You may enter multiple pieces in this contest, and you may enter both poetry and prose, but each entrant can win at most one prize, no matter how many entries are made.
Spark: A Creative Anthology reserves the right to post “No Award” for either category in the event that fewer than 30 total entries are received or fewer than three qualified entries can be selected for the final round of judging.
Because this contest is judged blindly—that is, the author’s name is withheld from the judges—please omit personal information (such as author name or contact details) from the manuscript.
Judges will be unable to provide feedback on specific pieces.
Submission guidelines
For full contest guidelines, rules & restrictions, and links to enter your work, see http://SparkAnthology.org/contests/five.
Contest entries will be accepted from March 15, 2014 until the stroke of midnight, U.S. Pacific Time, on April 2, 2014. (In other words, make sure your entries are in before 11:59 pm on April 1).
There are no genre restrictions for this contest, and content guidelines are similar to our standard submission guidelines, including what we are not accepting.
Contest Five awards prizes for poetry and prose according to our contest judging criteria.
Prose includes both fiction and creative nonfiction, but we have not divided the category further because we believe that well-written creative nonfiction should tell a story so well that the result is indistinguishable from fiction. Prose must be less than 12,000 words.
Poetry includes all styles, meters, and rhyme schemes, or may be free-form. Poetry must be less than 150 lines.