The Time out of Time Contest

Details

Not all time is the same. Some time lags, stretching your worst moments into personal hells, while good times shoot ahead without your noticing. Some days are special, too—they occur irregularly, or even erroneously. In some Asian societies, time is measured in regularly-changing—but never-recurring—eras. In the Julian calendar, February 29th occurs only once every four years, and there are even one or two instances of February 30th on record. And of course, Albert Einstein famously postulated that time is dependent on velocity, and physics so far agrees.

Perception, society, relativity, and the vast stretches of the universe all play a role, in other words, in the formulation of time. For the "Time out of Time" contest, you will too.

To enter, write a poem of 1000 words or fewer which deals centrally with the concept(s) of time or its consequences and effects. Your poem can be in rhyme or free verse, and can be literary or genre—if you want to write an epic poem about space pirate erotica, that's fine with us as long as the concept of time is central to the piece. Want to write a single 3-line haiku filled with witty puns and awe-inspiring revelations? Go for it, as long as it's timely! Prose poetry? Ghazal? Sonnets? (You get the idea...)

The first place winner will receive $50 and two Pulitzer-prize-winning books of poetry: Robert Hass' Time and Materials and Stephen Dunn's Different Hours. The second place winner will receive $25, and a copy of Dunn's Different Hours. Winners must supply PayPal and shipping addresses in order to receive their prizes, and winners outside of the continental US may receive a cash equivalent instead of books due to shipping cost.

Winning entries

Winners have been announced! Log in to see them.

Prizes

Rules

• Your entry must be a poem of 1000 words or fewer which deals in some central way with time.

• Entries must be received before midnight on February 29, 2011 (UTC time), and winners will be announced within two weeks of that date.

• Entries will be judged by Scribophile staff. Decisions are final.

• Only one entry is allowed per member. Multiple entries will be disqualified.

• Work must have Public visibility on Scribophile until winners are announced.

• Winners must have a valid Paypal account, or we won't be able to send the prize money!

• Winners must provide a shipping address to receive physical prizes.

• Scribophile reserves the right to provide winners outside the continental US with alternate prizes of identical value.

Submission guidelines

• To enter the contest, post your work on Scribophile and check the box that says "Enter this work into the contest". Your work will automatically be considered. The checkbox will be visible until the contest deadline, which is in UTC time.

• Entry is free, but you'll need karma points to post your work. You can earn karma points by writing critiques of work by other members.