COMPETE and WIN with your best fiction! Please, don’t be cold-hearted. Enter by October 15!
Entry Fee: All entries are $20.00. You may pay with a check or money order, Visa, Mastercard or American Express when you enter online or via regular mail.
Prizes
First Prize: The First Place-Winner receives $1,000 cash, promotion in Writer's Digest, $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books and the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.
Second Prize: The Second Place-Winner receives $500 cash, promotion in Writer's Digest, $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books and the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.
Honorable Mention: Honorable Mentions will receive promotion in Writer's Digest and the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.
Competition Rules
The Categories:
You may enter as many manuscripts as you like. All manuscripts must be 4,000 words or fewer.
Preparing Your Entry:
1. If you are submitting your entry via regular mail, the entry must be accompanied by an Official Entry Form or facsimile, and the required entry fee (credit card information, check or money order made payable to F+W Media, Inc.). If you are entering more than one manuscript, you may mail all entries in the same envelope and write one check for the total entry fee; however, each manuscript must have its category indicated in the upper left-hand corner.
2. Your entry must be original, in English, unpublished and unproduced, not accepted by any other publisher or producer at the time of submission. Writer's Digest retains one-time publication rights to the First Prize, Second Prize and Honorable Mention winning entries in each category to be published in a Writer's Digest outlet.
3. If you are submitting your entry via regular mail, the entry must be typed on one side of 8-1/2 x 11 white paper (computer printout acceptable) or A4 paper. Manuscripts must be double-spaced. If you are entering via regular mail, your name, address, phone number and competition category must appear in the upper left-hand corner of the first page—otherwise your entry is disqualified. No refunds will be issued for disqualified entries. Online entries must be submitted in one of the following file types: doc, docx, rtf or pdf. We recommend that you avoid adding your own symbols/punctuation in file names of the documents you are uploading.
4. Be sure of your word count! Entries exceeding the word limit will be disqualified. Type the exact word count (counting every single word, except the title) at the top of the manuscript.
5. Mailed entries must be stapled.
Judging and Notification
1. Every entry will be read by the judges. Judges' decisions are final.
2. Judges reserve the right to re-categorize entries.
3. Entries must be entered online or postmarked by 11:59 pm EST on October 15, 2011. We cannot return submitted manuscripts; however, to receive notification of the receipt of your manuscript, send a self-addressed stamped postcard along with your entry. Please note that it may take up to 30 days after the deadline for all entries and payment to be processed.
4. The following are not permitted to enter the contest: employees of F+W Media, Inc., and their immediate family members; Writer's Digest contributing editors and correspondents as listed on our masthead; Writer's Online Workshops instructors; and Grand Prize Winners from the previous three years in any Writer's Digest competitions.
5. Top Award Winners will be notified by mail by December 31, 2011. Winners will be listed in the May/June 2012 issue of Writer's Digest, and on www.writersdigest.com after the May/June 2012 issue is published.
Contact Information:
For inquiries: contact (715) 445-4612 ext. 13430 or email writing-competition@fwmedia.com
For submissions: enter online here
Website: http://www.writersdigest.com
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