Writing contests

I've spent a few good hours combing the net for 2009 writing contests to enter and want to share what I've found with you.


Writers Digest

Annual Writing Competition
For 78 years, the Annual Writer’s Digest Competition has rewarded writers just like you for their finest work. We continue the tradition by giving away more than $30,000 in cash and prizes!

Win a trip to New York City !

GRAND PRIZE: $3,000 cash and a trip to New York City to meet with editors or agents.Writer's Digest will fly you and a guest to The Big Apple, where you'll spend three days and two nights in the publishing capital of the world. While you're there, a Writer's Digest editor will escort you to meet and share your work with four editors or agents! Plus, you'll receive a free Diamond Publishing Package from Outskirts Press.

Entry Deadline: May 15, 2009.

For more info, click the ling ---> http://www.writersdigest.com/annual

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Random House

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers is proud to announce the
Eighteenth Annual
Delacorte Yearling Contest for
a First Middle-Grade Novel*

The prize of a book contract (on the Publisher’s standard form) for a hardcover and a paperback edition, including an advance and royalties, will be awarded annually to encourage the writing of contemporary or historical fiction set in North
America, for readers age 9–12. The award consists of $1,500 in cash and a $7,500 advance against royalties.

All federal, state and local taxes, if any, are the winners sole responsibility. Prizes are not transferrable and cannot be assigned. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO WIN.

ELIGIBILITY

1. The contest is open to U.S. and Canadian writers who have not previously published a novel for middle-grade readers. Employees of Random House, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates, and members of their families and households are not eligible.

2. Foreign-language manuscripts and translations are not eligible.

3. Manuscripts submitted to a previous Delacorte Press contest are not eligible.

FORMAT FOR SUBMISSIONS

1. Manuscripts should be no shorter than 96 typewritten pages and no longer than 160 typewritten pages. Include a brief plot summary with your covering letter.

2. Each manuscript should have a cover page listing the title of the work and the author’s name, address, and telephone number. The title should also appear on each manuscript page.

3. Manuscripts should be typed doublespaced on 8 1/2" by 11" good quality white paper, and pages should be numbered consecutively.The type should be easy to read, preferably 12 point.The author should retain a copy of any manuscript submitted.

4. Photocopies are acceptable if readily legible and printed on good quality white (not gray) paper. Partial or illegible entries will not be acceptable.

5. Photocopies are acceptable if readily legible and printed on good quality white (not gray) paper.

6. Do not submit manuscripts in boxes. A padded envelope will do. Please do not enclose checks for postage. The publisher is not responsible for late, lost, misdelivered, or misplaced submissions.

7. Please enclose a business-size stamped, self-addressed envelope for notification only. Please do not enclose checks for postage. Due to new postal regulations, the publisher cannot return any manuscripts. All submissions will be recycled by Random House after they are read.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS

1. Manuscripts sent to Delacorte Press may not be submitted to other publishers or literary agents while under consideration for the prize.
2. Authors may not submit more than two manuscripts to the Delacorte Yearling competition; each must meet all eligibility requirements.

DATES FOR SUBMISSION

1. Manuscripts must be postmarked after April 1, 2009, but no later than June 30, 2009.
2. Send manuscripts to:
Delacorte Yearling Contest
Random House, Inc.
1745 Broadway, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10019

JUDGING

1. The Judges are the editors of Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers.
2. The judges reserve the right not to award a prize.
3. The judges’ decision will be final.
4. The editors of Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers will not be able to offer critiques of manuscripts or enter into correspondence about the manuscripts other than with the winning author.
5. Writers will be notified between July and October as submissions are evaluated by the editors. Final contest results will be announced on our Web site on or around October 31, 2009.

Click here for website ---->http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/writingcontests/

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The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
(students only)


Creative Writing Contest
Money, Money, Money? - The Challenge

NEW PRIZES!!!! Read more.....

Juniors and seniors…these last years of high school are exciting—college visits and applications, prom, graduation—but they can also be expensive. How will you pay for it all?

A budget is one tool you can use. Even if your only income is an allowance from your parents, you can still get in the habit of making smart budget decisions and stretching your dollars further.

Budgeting money may be easy for some, but it takes real effort for most of us. Tell us, in a creatively written composition of your choice, how you will take charge of budgeting for additional expenses in your junior and senior years. Discuss the various expenses that you anticipate and how you plan to pay for them. How will you prioritize your expenses and handle unanticipated ones? What trade-offs are you willing to make to get what you want most? What mistakes do you hope to avoid? Be sure to include economic concepts in your composition.

Whatever you do after high school, taking control of how you handle money today will give you more choices in the future. Good luck!

Acceptable written compositions for this contest include essays, short stories, poems, and plays.
Submission Deadline: March 20, 2009
Examples of economic concepts include:

Budget a written plan for spending and saving money.

Financial Goals the desired results of one’s efforts to achieve personal economic satisfaction.

Incentive a factor that encourages people to do something; often a monetary reward or the prospect of obtaining one.

Opportunity Cost the value of possible alternatives that a person gives up when making one choice instead of another; also known as a trade-off.

Standard of Living the overall degree of comfort of an individual, household, or population, as measured by the amount of goods and services its members consume.

Website ---->http://www.clevelandfed.org/learning_center/For_Teachers/contests_for_students/2009/Essay/index.cfm

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There are many more, but I'm going to work on my chapbook now. Had some thoughts cross my cerebellum...u know how it is...

Stay peace

The Write Way #3 I Hear Voices

Yes, I hear voices and they aren't from dead people. But I'm not the only person who hears them. Every author in blank-pagedom hears them. They wake us from the most comfortable slumber. They speak to us when other people are speaking to us. Yes, they are rude little voices. And irritating, at times.

Our characters have a way of birthing themselves. And these aren't normal births where the newborn starts out at 8 lbs., 2 ounces and 19 inches long or even start as embryos in our wombs. Most time, we're birthing adults, the elderly, and even some speaking from the grave. Damn, I know I said the voices weren't from dead people. Guess I lied. They're coming into existences as bratty-ass teens, snot nosed toddlers...hell, they're even drug addicts and prostitutes.

The only thing we can do to stop these voices from overtaking us is to write them, the way they want to be written. But here's the trick....you have to also incorporate your own voice in what you write. Since these voices aren't about you, have nothing to do with you, and only want to use you, you better learn how to speak up for yourself and say, "This is how I will write about you." You have to come to terms that you'll have some dick-head in your story that you may not like. Or some whiny-ass woman who grates at your jugular. But you also have to find a happy medium between their voices and yours. A lot of writers make this mistake. Let's see if I can explain it.

When your characters speak (read: dialogue). It's their time to shine. But every other place in the work-in-progress is all about the writer's voice. Sure, you'll have to paint pictures of what your character is doing and how they're feeling, but this is where your voice comes in. This is where you make your mark. The voices you constantly hear know nothing about using too many adjectives and adverbs. They don't know when modifiers dangle... It's how you handle the in-between what they do know...

I'm still finding my voice so the only thing I can say to help you along is continuing writing how you write to find your own. What I know is you can't let your characters write your whole book for you. Don't depend on them for everything.

So what do you have to say about character's voices vs. writer's voices ?

Stay tuned for The Write Way #4 Tell me what you want, Gina, dayum!

Avoid the lines. VOTE early!!

The Write Way #2 Editors

What does copyediting, proofreading, developmental editing, and substantive editing have in common?

Only that the individuals doing these things to your manuscript are going to point out something you need to work on.

AND you're going to piss them off, as the author, because of your poor use of the English language, your wayward inconsistencies, and your total disregard for grammar rules (they seem to have some sort of fixation on the latter). That's about it.

A simple internet search on any of these terms will yield a million results (all of which would be better than my explanation so I'll leave the definitions to the internet experts). But I want to discuss 'decisions' here. Now, I'm not published so there are some (read: alot of) things I don't know and hopefully some of you reading this can help me out (again...as I learn the craft...).

When your manuscript is returned with edits, don't always take the edits as written in stone. If your editor thinks a concept...a word...a scene should be a certain way and it isn't in your vision, ask them about it. Is this not your heart on paper? Would you allow someone else to tell you how to feel? I don't think so...or at least I hope not. And if your editor gets snippy, snotty, or doesn't and isn't willing to give you an explanation for their suggestions, I SUGGEST you find another one (I recommend Shonell Bacon, by the way). Why? Because you need someone who supports your vision. And if your editor is changing your vision, without just cause then they're borderline ghostwriting, IMO. I may be wrong and I don't know how much control over edits you eventually have, but I live in lala-writer-land and my hope is whomever edits my work, believes in my work enough to edit along my vision, if my vision makes sense.

Now, I'm not talking about if you're doing something dead wrong in your manuscript. If it makes sense to you and your book, then by all means do what they ask...with a smile. But there's nothing wrong with asking questions, right?

Am I too far off thinking this?

Tune in to The Write Way #3 I Hear Voices (and they are not from dead people)

The Write Way #1 Learn the Craft

What I hear most from published authors is (drumroll please)

LEARN THE CRAFT

I used to think what the hell whenever I heard it. I got so tired of hearing it, I started saying it to others. But what I didn't know was that learning the craft had everything to do with writing, and simultaneously, had nothing to do with writing.

While I'm 'learning the craft' and attempting to weave it into my writing, I'm finding out what I've learned and what my imagination conjures up, can't coexist...initially. Ahh, there was my problem. I'm typing (or writing) trying to pay attention to structure, flow, tense, pov, grammar, etc., etc., when, in essence, none of that shit matters. (Sorry mommy but I'm upset with myself right now) The only thing that matters when I'm putting pen to pad or fingertips to keys is my IMAGINATION. To hell with all the mechanics. Forget the comma I'm not to sure is placed correctly and, at this point, I'm loving my dangling modifiers.

Learn the craft of writing is a misleading statement. It led me to believe that the craft had all to do with writing right. But that isn't it. And I finally get it. Or at least I get a portion of it. The next time someone tells me this, I'm going to ask them what they mean. As of today, this is my process:

Write the damn story for me (imagination)
Rewrite the damn story for them (layer in the mechanics)
Send the hot mess to an editor (who can magically merge my imagination and the mechanics)
Decide if the merger coincides with my vision and make corrections

Hmm....looks like NaNoWriMo is on to something...

Tune in for The Write Way #2 Editors

Leave a comment, I'd love to discuss...