What do these iconic Ms. covers mean to you? A group of Stanford faculty at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research and the editors of Ms. magazine have selected forty Ms. covers from the magazine’s inaugural freestanding issue in 1972 to today. Over the years, Ms. magazine has offered feminist reporting and perspectives on topics ranging from Marilyn Monroe to childbirth, from breast cancer to domestic violence.
We invite you to submit a 150-word essay about one of these covers.
Some questions you might explore: How did this cover reflect or shape your own life? What does it say about American women, men, and sexuality? About feminism? About the political landscape at the time it appeared or today? How does it capture an era, or moment from the past? How does it resonate with the present? How does it reveal both the strengths and limitations of feminist thought?
Entries will be judged on their originality, vision, awareness of feminist issues, and quality of expression. A group of Stanford faculty, Stegner Fellows, and Ms. editors will select ten winning entries, each of which will be awarded $100 cash prizes and a subscription to Ms. magazine. A number of honorable mentions may also be awarded (the cash prize winners and the honorable mentions are “winners” for the purposes of this agreement). Winning entries will be displayed alongside the Ms. covers in an exhibit on the Stanford campus in 2012.
Contest Rules:
• Contestants must enter in one of two categories: student or non-student. Student status is defined as any full-time student at an educational institution, including colleges, secondary or elementary schools.
• Essays must be 150 words or less, excluding factual information on the entry form (name, date, age, address) (“Ms. Essay”).
• No reference can be made within the body of the essay that will individually identify the contestant. Names and identifying information will be provided on the contest entry form, apart from the essay body.
• No essays will be judged after the final due date, (October 15, 2011 at 5:00pm PT).
• Essays must be original, previously unpublished, and must not infringe the intellectual-property rights of any third party. Each essay must reflect the contestant's own research, writing and original thinking.
• By entering the contest, the contestant warrants the originality of the Ms. Essay and assigns copyright in the Ms. Essay jointly to Stanford University and Ms. Magazine, which includes without limitation the right to publish electronically or in print in any media now known or hereafter created, display, use, edit or modify the Ms. Essay without further permission or further compensation. Beginning in December 2011 for non-winning essays and December 2013 for winning essays, Stanford University and Ms. Magazine license back to the contestant the right to use the Ms. Essay in any and all media, and Stanford and Ms. Magazine waive the right to any royalties flowing from the Ms. Essay based on publications secured by the contestant. Contestants further grant Stanford University and Ms. Magazine the right to use his or her name, likeness and biographic images in connection with the display or publication of his or her winning Ms. Essays, if applicable. (In plain English, you are giving us the rights to control your Ms. Essay so that Stanford and/or Ms. Magazine can use it in the future. You are also agreeing to let us use your name and biographic details about you in the event you are a winner. For all contestants, once the contest is over, December 2011 for unsuccessful contestants, or December 2013 for winning contestants, you can use your essay in any way you want to use it without having any obligations back to us.)
• Each contestant must complete the online entry form fully and accurately. Contestants will be asked to provide their name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number, and institutional affiliation (if applicable). Each contestant agrees to indemnify Ms. Magazine and Stanford University for any misrepresentations in a submitted Ms. Essay.
• No literary form other than an essay will be accepted.
• Employees of The Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Studies at Stanford University and Ms. magazine and their respective parents, affiliates, and subsidiaries and participating advertising and promotion agencies (including members of their immediate family and/or those living in the same household of each such employee) are not eligible to participate in this contest.
• Sponsor is not responsible for lost or late entries nor for electronic-transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone-equipment, electronic, computer, hardware, or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind, or inaccurate transmissions of or failure to receive entry information by Sponsor or presenter on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or any combination thereof.
Contact Information:
For submissions: submit online here
Website: http://gender.stanford.edu/
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