The Inlander Short-Fiction Contest 2012

 Do you like The Inlander? Would you like it even better if you were in it?

The Inlander is still accepting submissions for its 2012 Short-Fiction Contest. Submissions should be stories fewer than 2,000 words and in some way related to this year's theme, "The End." Winning entries will be published in their December 20th issue.

The submission deadline is November 22nd, 11:59 pm.
Email submissions to Luke Baumgarten at luke@inlander.com

So, get writing! And if you need inspiration, here's some of what the internet as to say about "The End..."

1. NASA's take on the end of the world


2. Remember the 90s? When the end of the world would just be one giant jelly-bean boom?

3. The Simpsons' Escalator to Nowhere, anyone?

4. And of course...

Happy writing!

Willow Springs Annual Fiction Contest!

Willow Springs is having their annual fiction contest!

The winner will receive $2,000 and publication within the magazine. All entrants will receive a one year subscription to the magazine.

Willow Springs publishes the finest in contemporary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as interviews with some of the most notable authors in contemporary literature, including Marilynne Robinson, Stuart Dybek, Aimee Bender, and Robert Bly.

What: Willow Springs Fiction Contest

Where:

Submit online here

Mail @ 

The Willow Springs Fiction Prize

Willow Springs

501 N Riverpoint Blvd, Ste 425

Spokane, WA 99202 

When: Postmarked by March 15, 2012

Cost: $15 ($20 for International Submissions)

More Information:

Visit Willow Springs

Community Contests

Want to share your story with audiences at the Get Lit! Festival? Consider submitting to one of the following local writing contests. The winners of each of these contests will read their work at different events during the festival. Keep in mind that the deadlines are fast approaching!

>The Pacific Northwest Inlander’s 101-Word Fiction Contest
Readers are invited to share micro-masterpieces of narrative, voice and character. Multiple winners will be published in The Inlander and on Inlander.com. Then eight lucky finalists will be selected to compete at the 101-Word Fiction Showdown on Sunday, April 17, at Auntie’s Bookstore from 3:30-5 pm as part of the Get Lit! Festival. At the showdown, The Inlander’s Senior Writer, Michael Bowen, will challenge eight of the region’s best writers of micro-fiction to compose three short tales related to “Telling the American Story.” They will then face off in a tournament that will determine who will be the Inland Northwest’s Flash Fiction Guru. The contest deadline is Thursday, March 3 at 3 pm. For questions, email feedback@inlander.com or visit http://www.inlander.com/spokane/101words.

>Earth Day Writing Contest
To help commemorate Earth Day 2011, DowntoEarthNW.com is inviting writers and thinkers to think global and act local by sharing what Earth Day means to them in today’s world. Judged by poet Ed Skoog, author of Mister Skylight, contestants can submit work of various genres to info@downtoearthnw.com by 5 pm March 31. The contest winner will read prior to the April 13 appearance of Maude Barlow at Spokane Community College’s Lair Auditorium.

>KSPS Young Writer Contest
Students in grades 4-6 are welcomed to submit an essay, article, story, or poem about their favorite American hero (deadline is March 31; visit www.ksps.org/community-education/ksps-young-writers-contest/ or email dit@spokaneschools.org for more details). The winner will read their piece at the festival before headlining youth author Suzanne Morgan Williams on Saturday, April 16 from 1-1:45 pm at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Third Coast Contest Deadline Approaching!

The Third Coast Magazine Poetry and Fiction Contests deadline is fast approaching! Make sure to submit your work by December 1, 2010. Contest winners in each genre receive $1000 & publication. All entrants receive a one year subscription to Third Coast.

The contest will be judged by Brad Watson in fiction and Natasha Trethewey in poetry.

Guidelines: Submit one previously unpublished story of up to 9,000 words or three previously unpublished poems with SASE and a $15 reading fee payable to Third Coast. Please send each entry separately to:


Third Coast 2010 Fiction or Poetry Contest
Department of English
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5331

For more information visit: http://thirdcoastmagazine.com/contests/

National Novel Writing Month...a.k.a NaNoWriMo

November's not just the month of yellow leaves and huge turkey dinners. Between November 1 and 30 annually, NaNoWriMo creates an opportunity for writers to sit down and crank out a novel from scratch (50,000 words being the goal).

Anne Lamott said, "For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts." And that's the philosophy behind NaNoWriMo: turn off your self-editor, don't worry about anything except quantity, and plunge forward into all the griminess of a first draft.

From their website, here's how NaNoWriMo works:

1) Sign up for the event by clicking the "Sign Up Now" link at the top of the site.

2) Check your email and read the ginormous email our noveling robots send you. It will have "Love" in the subject line, and may be hiding in your Junk folder.

3) Log into your account and use the links on the My NaNoWriMo page to set your timezone, affiliate with a region, and tell us a little bit about yourself.

4) Begin procrastinating by reading through all the great advice and funny stories in the forums. Post some stories and questions of your own. Get excited. Get nervous. Try to rope someone else into doing this with you. Eat lots of chocolate and stockpile noveling rewards.

5) On November 1, begin writing your novel. Your goal is to write a 50,000-word novel by midnight, local time, on November 30th. You write on your own computer, using whatever software you prefer.

6) This is not as scary as it sounds.

7) Starting November 1, you can update your word count in that box at the top of the site, and post excerpts of your work for others to read. Watch your word-count accumulate and story take shape. Feel a little giddy.

8) Write with other NaNoWriMo participants in your area. Write by yourself. Write. Write. Write.

9) If you write 50,000 words of fiction by midnight, local time, November 30th, you can upload your novel for official verification, and be added to our hallowed Winner’s Page and receive a handsome winner’s certificate and web badge. We'll post step-by-step instructions on how to scramble and upload your novel starting in mid-November.

10) Win or lose, you rock for even trying.

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So do some finger stretches and get ready to write on November first! We'll see you again when you stumble back into daylight with triumphant shouts. Learn more and sign up at http://www.nanowrimo.org/.

Upcoming Contest Deadlines: Short Fiction and Nonfiction

Announcing two fabulous literary contests:

The Inlander's 2010 Short Fiction Contest
The Pacific Northwest Inlander is accepting unpublished fiction between 800-1,500 words with the theme of redemption (which, according to their blog, can be interpreted "any way you want"). The deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. E-mail (no hard-copy) submissions to michael@inlander.com with "Fiction Contest Entry" in the subject line. One, two, or three winners will be published in The Inlander's Dec. 23 issue, plus--maybe--more online.

Narrative Magazine's Fall 2010 Short Story Contest
Narrative Magazine is accepting fiction and nonfiction submissions for their Fall 2010 story contest, including "short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction." You can submit online through their website. The material must be previously unpublished, and there is a $20 entry fee. First prize earns $3250, second prize $1500, third prize $750 and ten additional finalists get $100 each. (sweet!)

Narrative Magazine focuses on "advancing literary arts in a digital age" by trying to reach readers around the globe. They are a non-profit and the magazine is free online to all readers (for the most part-- they have a subscribers-only "VIP" section of the site with additional material. Sniff.)

Here's part of their mission statement, which is pretty cool:
"Literary readers are more than twice as likely as nonreaders to vote, to volunteer, and to be active participants of the communities in which they live. They are more likely to be healthy, to be hired, to create art, and to achieve both academic and economic success. Reading encourages and develops empathy and emotional sophistication, logical thinking, clear expression of ideas, and the ability to comprehend complex and opposing thought systems. Reading opens minds and changes lives."

Idaho Poetry Prize 2010

Heads up on an upcoming contest deadline, poets!

Lost Horse Press is accepting submissions for The Idaho Prize for Poetry 2010, a national competition offering $1,000 plus publication by Lost Horse Press for a book-length poetry manuscript. They specify that there is no restriction on content, style or subject, they're just looking for the best overall work.

This will be the seventh annual poetry book contest sponsored by Lost Horse Press, and the final judge is Thomas Lux. Make sure to include with your submission the $25 reading fee and SASE for the notification of winners. Postmark deadline for the contest is May 15, 2010, and the winner will be announced August 15, 2010.

Reasons we love Lost Horse Press: they specify in the contest guidelines that you shouldn't try to impress them by using expensive paper, because "quality paper won't impress readers the way a quality manuscript will."

Also, aside from being a successful, independent and local (Sandpoint, ID) press, The Lost Horse New Poets, Short Books Series, edited by Marvin Bell, is dedicated to "works often ignored by conglomerate publishers which are so much in danger of vanishing into obscurity in what has become the age of chain stores and mass appeal food, movies, art and books."

Word.

Check out the rest of the submission guidelines here . After all, you do want your submission to get read, right? Triple check the guidelines or email http://losthorsepress@mindspring.com with questions.

Poetry Out Loud! Competition

Do you remember being asked to recite a poem as part of a high school English class? Well, if you never had to, you might feel pretty lucky. Most of us never had that "leap on top of a desk and shout, 'O Captain, my Captain,'" moment in high school, no matter how amazing our teachers were. But as it turns out, some students are turning poetry recitations into something even more fun to watch than Dead Poets Society.

High school students across the nation are competing in Poetry Out Loud, a national competition put on by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. The event features the students performing classic and contemporary poetry, getting scored on their performances and then advancing to the next level of competition, from regional to state to national.

In February, Get Lit! Programs hosted the regional finals for eight area high schools at The Davenport Hotel. The winners were Abby Hawkes from Mead High School reciting “If” by Rudyard Kipling and “Video Blues” by Mary Jo Salter, as well as Cole Timm from Okanogan with “In a Dark Time” by Theodore Roethke and “The Dark Thrush” by Thomas Hardy. The Washington State Poetry Out Loud finals will be on Saturday, March 20 in Olympia, and twelve students from across the state will be competing for one spot at nationals. We wish Abby and Cole the best of luck at state!

The winner of the state final will receive $200, with the winner's school receiving $500 for the purchase of poetry books. The second place finalist will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library. The state champion will receive an all-expenses-paid trip (with a chaperone) to compete in the National Finals in Washington, DC, on April 25-27, 2010. Free trip to Washington, D.C. in the springtime for being an awesome performance poet? Better start practicing that Kipling recitation, 9th-12th graders. Who knows where it will take you.

The Poetry Out Loud State Finals are FREE and open to the public.

Visit http://www.poetryoutloud.org/ for more information on this national program or visit http://www.arts.wa.gov/ to learn more about the local competition.

Get Loud with Poetry Out Loud

“Poetry Out Loud has helped me write with voice and expression, especially in the poetry that I have written.”

Get Lit! Programs is once again proud to be hosting the regional 2010 Poetry Out Loud competition at the Early Bird Room of the Davenport Hotel. On February 5^th at 6:30 pm, high school students will compete in this national recitation contest by performing both classical and contemporary poetry. Poetry Out Loud celebrates the oral history of poetry while giving high school students valuable experience in public speaking.

Much like the national spelling bee, Poetry Out Loud starts in area high schools throughout the country. In the Spokane area, high schools entering the competition this year include: Central Valley High School, CBE Alternative Programs, Deer Park High School, East Valley High School, Havermale High School, Mead High School, Phoenix Alternative High School, and Okanogan High School. At the regional competition, two students will be selected to go on to the state finals, held on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at South Puget Sound Community College campus. Organizers hope students from the regional competition will make it past the state competition and make it all the way to the national finals.

Last year, Kevin Ma, a sophomore from Mead High School, won $100 and a $200 stipend for his school by placing as a runner-up at the state competition. Many of the students commented on their newfound appreciation for poetry, and encouraged others to get involved. “I would definitely recommend Poetry Out Loud,” said Kevin. “I think it provides students the opportunity to experience poetry as a whole and provides the flexibility for every student to find poems that they personally enjoy.” Kevin performed Shirley Geok-Lin Lim's "Learning to Love American" and "In the Desert" by Stephen Crane.

Check out this video, created by students, reflecting on Poetry Out Loud. We'll see you February 5th at the Davenport at 6pm!

Get Lit! Festival Poster Contest

Over here in the Get Lit! Programs office, we're always exciting about working with budding writers and artists in our community. So for this year's festival poster design, we turned to the very talented Visual Communication Design students at Eastern Washington University. Results are varied in design, concept, and aesthetic and it was thrilling to see such a range of choices.

Congratulations to our winner, Beth Karper, and thank you to all the participants for submitting. You can view Beth's winning design and all the other entries on our contest page.

Everyone in the office had a different favorite, we all had a different least favorite, but one thing that was consistent is was how impressed we were with how much work something like this takes to create. The ones we loved were for all different reasons, and we're really excited by having so many great designs to choose from. One of the designs we didn't choose for the poster, we'll still be using for the festival t-shirts, and I personally can't wait to wear mine.

So to all our participants, thanks for the hard work and for helping spread the word about the festival through your art!

Selected Shorts Writing Contest

NPR's Selected Shorts, a celebration of the short story, is coming to Spokane for the Get Lit! Festival on Friday, April 16 at 7pm at the Bing Crosby Theater. Selected Shorts features actors reading short stories, giving the narratives a thrilling new life.

Selected Shorts just announced the 2010 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize with guest judge Nathan Englander.

The winning submission will be read as part of the Selected Shorts performance at Symphony Space on April 7, 2010, just one short week before the Get Lit! Festival. The story will be recorded for possible later broadcast as part of the public radio series. The winner will receive $1000.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to make a strong showing for the Inland Northwest through this national contest? The winner is announced in April...just in time for the winner to be a part of the Get Lit! Festival!

Here are the story requirements:
Submit a single short story that addresses the theme, Apartments and Neighbors.
Your story must have a title.
Make sure your name and contact information appear on the first page of your story. If you are submitting online, this information needs to appear on the first page of the attached Word document. Include page numbers.
Your story must be no more than 2 double-spaced typed pages in length (Times New Roman, 12 pt font) and no more than 750 words.

Find more information here and happy writing!

Budding Poets, Get Excited!

If you are a student in the Spokane County area in grades 1 through 12 and want to see your poetry performed, then this is the contest for you! Spokane Civic Theatre and Get Lit! are joining forces to bring this incredible opportunity to life. Just submit your poetry by the deadline (January 31) and you could see your work on stage, in front of hundreds of people. The winner will also receive a free class at the Spokane Civic Theatre Academy.

To join in this fun-filled contest, first pick your three favorite poems you've written that are shorter than 21 lines. The poems can be on any family-appropriate topic, just make sure they are original--no cheating. Then send the poems, along with your name, grade, school, parent/guardian name, phone number, and e-mail address, via email to the Poetry Contest Coordinator Sandra Hosking at debutpromotions@cs.com. A panel of judges will chose the finalists, and their poetry will be dramatized and performed by local actors during the Get Lit! Festival. A winner will then be chosen, and will receive a free class from Spokane Civic Theatre Academy.

If you have any questions, you can call Sandra at (509) 953-9928.

The bare facts:

What? Up to 3 poems, no longer than 21 lines each

Who? Spokane County students in grades 1 through 12 (home school included)

Cost? FREE

Deadline? Jan. 31, 2010

Questions? Call Sandra Hosking at (509) 953-9928

To submit:

Send up to 3 poems to Poetry Contest Coordinator Sandra Hosking at debutpromotions@cs.com.

Either send the poems in the body of the e-mail or attach a Microsoft Word or PDF document.

Include your name, grade, school, parent/guardian name, phone number, and e-mail address.