Short fiction contest?

CJacobo · Aug 5, 2012

I wanted to feel out how much interest there might be in me sponsoring a writing contest for short fiction writers. The winners would be chosen by the board and first place would get 150 bucks.

The contest would be held to see who can present the most effective short story based on the following prompt:

Write a short story about a conflict between a man and woman, presented almost entirely in dialogue.

It would be a good chance to work out those writing muscles and make a bit of cash. If this sounds like something you all would like to do, reply with comments below; I think we would need at least 10 serious writers to agree to the contest to make it worth while.

archerjoe · Aug 5, 2012

Sounds intriguing. What are the particulars such as word count, deadline, etc.?

CL_Hilbert · Aug 5, 2012

Well, I'd maybe be game. Is there an entry fee for this contest? Are works submitted to this contest considered published? Is this contest open to all genres? (Because I write science fiction and fantasy and I notice those genres tend not to do so well in open-genre contests.)

Also, seconding ArcherJoe with word count and deadline.

mirandashell · Aug 5, 2012

I would also like to know the above details. Especially is it considered published if I enter a piece? And if yes, who has the rights?

CJacobo · Aug 5, 2012

mirandashell said:
I would also like to know the above details. Especially is it considered published if I enter a piece? And if yes, who has the rights?

This contest would be purely academic. The 150 bucks will be paid by me via PayPal. There is NO entry fee. I just want to get people motivated to work on their writing.

The works would not be considered published, they are just for the good of the board and it's community and yourselves. You can do whatever you would like with your stories after the contest.

As for a deadline, I was just thinking that all submissions should be in by the 15th of this month (August) and then the votes would be counted on the 1st of next month (September). For word count, no more than 3k words If we are aiming for 5 pages.

As for the genre, it is open to them all. The goal is to write an effective short story that satisfies the prompt the way you think it should.

Smish · Aug 5, 2012

Is it your intention for AW to host this contest? If so, you need to run it past the board owner before you do anything.

AW Admin · Aug 5, 2012

Since the site owner has not been consulted, I'm going to lock this until Mac can deal with it.

MacAllister · Aug 5, 2012

The board owner has been consulted, and I'm okay with it - I've talked a bit with Caleb backchannel about the project.

Sounds like fun!

Re-opening, now.

CJacobo · Aug 5, 2012

MacAllister said:
The board owner has been consulted, and I'm okay with it - I've talked a bit with Caleb backchannel about the project.

Sounds like fun!

Re-opening, now.

Thank you MacAllister,

As for the contest itself, it is purely academic. I wanted to get our short fiction writers writing and working on their craft.

I am putting up the 150 bucks for the contest, and will also be finding a fun prize as well, like a book on short stories of your choice or something.

Right now, I'm just trying to see if there is any intrest in actually holding the contest. If not enough people want to do it, then we have to figure something else out.

KellyAssauer · Aug 5, 2012

CJacobo said:
If not enough people want to do it, then we have to figure something else out.

How many people are 'enough' for you?
-And how many days have I got to find them?

benbradley · Aug 5, 2012

Get paid for writing? What an idea!!!

MacAllister · Aug 5, 2012

Well, Smish runs her annual back-to-school kid-lit contest, too, about this time of year. I'm thinking that we bump this conversation into a temporary room of its own, make it a board-wide contest, and look at a deadline before the holidays?

That would give folks who want to write something new time to polish a couple of drafts, and set up voting rounds and so on?

CJacobo · Aug 5, 2012

KellyAssauer said:
How many people are 'enough' for you?
-And how many days have I got to find them?

KellyAssauer,

I was thinking that we need 10 finalist and 3 winners, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. 1st place would win the 150 bucks and a collection of short stories, and second and third place would win 50 bucks each. I know AW has held contests before, so you might help me on how many submissions we need to end up at the 10 finalists.

I was hoping to have all submissions in by the 15th of this month (open to change), then announce the winners on the 1st of next month. So that would be 10 days from now to have all the submissions in.

Does that sound doable?

EDIT: see next post as well. Mac has a good idea for the timing of the contest.

CJacobo · Aug 5, 2012

MacAllister said:
Well, Smish runs her annual back-to-school YA and kid-lit contest, too, about this time of year. I'm thinking that we bump this conversation into a temporary room of its own, make it a board-wide contest, and look at a deadline before the holidays?

That would give folks who want to write something new time to polish a couple of drafts, and set up voting rounds and so on?

This sounds good.

CJacobo · Aug 5, 2012

benbradley said:
Get paid for writing? What an idea!!!

I know right? Hopefully the incentive will get our writer's fingers clicking away though, and that's what is important for me with this.

night-flyer · Aug 5, 2012

Now that sounds like a very interesting and generous proposal. There's no way, with working 42 hrs a week, that I could make the 15th, but if the deadline is going to be before the holidays you can count me in.

I assume that more details will be given later after seeing if there's enough people interested?

CJacobo · Aug 5, 2012

night-flyer said:
Now that sounds like a very interesting and generous proposal. There's no way, with working 42 hrs a week, that I could make the 15th, but if the deadline is going to be before the holidays you can count me in.

I assume that more details will be given later after seeing if there's enough people interested?

Hi night-flyer,

the timing will most likely move to before the holidays, so I'm glad we can count you in!

You are correct, more details will come out as we figure more out.

MacAllister · Aug 5, 2012

Yeah, we've got a crapload of people who only log in a couple of times a week, too, because of work and family and meatspace obligations (I know, weird, right?). I know this stuff kind of seems to take forever to execute, but we had over 300 submissions from AWers for last year's anthology, as just one example.

My thought is that Caleb and I can put our heads together and hammer out some guidelines, timelines, and details and I'll set up a temporary room to run the contest out of. We need, for example, to post some actual contest details like which rights (if any) the winning entries are giving up, how the judging will work, and so on.

How many of you were around a few years ago when we ran the AW Idol contest? It was a months-long process. I don't think Caleb is envisioning anything quite so involved (and I know *I'M* not) but this could be a really fun fall project that inspires a lot of folks to stretch their wings.

night-flyer · Aug 5, 2012

Good to meet you, Caleb.

I think this is a great idea to get people writing if they're not already, and even if they are it'll get them out of their comfy zone and into trying something new, perhaps.

I was just wondering about who would choose the winners, or if there was going to be an open forum vote, and where to send the stories when we were done. I'll keep checking back to see what you two come up with.

In the meantime, I'll go pester my muse if I can find it.

CJacobo · Aug 5, 2012

night-flyer said:
Good to meet you, Caleb.

I think this is a great idea to get people writing if they're not already, and even if they are it'll get them out of their comfy zone and into trying something new, perhaps.

I was just wondering about who would choose the winners, or if there was going to be an open forum vote, and where to send the stories when we were done. I'll keep checking back to see what you two come up with.

In the meantime, I'll go pester my muse if I can find it.

I've got a great group helping me with the specifics here at AW, so as soon as we work out the details to answer your question, I'll post them up. Thanks again for your interest night-flyer.

EDIT: tell your muse to come see me when she isn't busy.

CJacobo · Aug 6, 2012

Since KellyAssauer has the link in her signature, I thought I might give the people who see this thread something to do.

If you are interested in seeing this contest come to life, or are interested in participating, and haven't spoken up here, please leave a quick note letting me know.

Opinionated Ant · Aug 6, 2012

Think it sounds great! not sure if I can do it since I'm going on vacation soon and embarassed but have no idea what holiday you all are talking about. I also forget my birth date...

Tweeted thread and interested to see how it goes!

KellyAssauer · Aug 6, 2012

CJacobo said:
Since KellyAssauer has the link in her signature, I thought I might give the people who see this thread something to do.

If you are interested in seeing this contest come to life, or are interested in participating, and haven't spoken up here, please leave a quick note letting me know.

CJacobo, I think I can find you some interest!! - which is why I added this link to my siggy, and added it to the list of August AW prompts, challenges & contests which can be found here.

With Mac's blessing, a global announcement, and a little assistance, I'm sure you'll have a very successful contest! If there's anything I can do to help, lemme know*. :e2cheer:

*without going overboard... right Mac?

CJacobo · Aug 6, 2012

KellyAssauer said:
CJacobo, I think I can find you some interest!! - which is why I added this link to my siggy, and added it to the list of August AW prompts, challenges & contests which can be found here.

With Mac's blessing, a global announcement, and a little assistance, I'm sure you'll have a very successful contest! If there's anything I can do to help, lemme know*.

*without going overboard... right Mac?

Thank you for your help KellyAssauer, I appreciate the drive AW has shown to get the contest going.

I'm sure we will chat more as this thing rolls forward.

JMC2009 · Aug 6, 2012

+jumps up and down with her hand in the air+ pick me pick me! I wanna play!

But yeah, I couldn't have anything done by the 15. Its crazy right now.

How hard would it be to compile all the entries into an e-pub? Or maybe just a pdf that can be downloaded by AWers?

Short fiction contest?

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