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Today, I have something special to share with all you teachers, parents, and librarians who are also children’s writers (or aspiring children’s writers). Wandy Yeap Hoh, the founder and Co-CEO of MeeGenius!, is a mother of three girls, and they love a good story and MeeGenius! Wandy believes that no great story should be left in the dark and hopes to bring every great story to all the children in the world.
She’s a woman I can get behind! If you haven’t heard of MeeGenius!, and I’ll admit I hadn’t until recently, here’s some information about this cool company:
MeeGenius is an e-bookstore just for kids! MeeGenius books feature read-along technology, engaging narration, and a growing catalog of award-winning titles. You can learn more about MeeGenius by downloading the free app from the Apple app store, Android app store, Google TV, Google Chrome, or by visiting www.meegenius.com. Happy Reading!
Margo: Welcome to Read These Books and Use Them, Wandy! Tell me a little about MeeGenius! What type of products do you offer for children and their parents?
Wandy: Thank you for the opportunity, Margo! I am excited to share more about MeeGenius. MeeGenius offers enhanced children’s e-books through our website, Google TV, Google Chrome, Android app store, and Apple app store. All of our e-books are for children ages 0-8 and feature word highlighting, engaging narration, and vivid illustrations to draw a child in. Our bookstore is growing weekly, and we currently offer more then 150 titles for kids and their parents to pick from.
Margo: I was very impressed when I tried some of the free classics! I am hosting you today, so you can share a very special contest with my readers. What is the contest you are offering and when does it start/end?
Wandy: We are very excited about our new author contest! The contest gives aspiring authors an opportunity to have their manuscript read, reviewed, and voted on by the online community. The contest is for unpublished authors only, and our goal is to provide an avenue for these authors to get discovered. The contest begins on September 15th and will end November 1. All manuscripts will be voted on from November 28th – December 18th. The finalist will be announced and then illustrated for the finalist round of voting. The contest will officially end with the winner announced on March 7, 2012.
Margo: What are the prizes for the contest?
Wandy: We are very excited about the prizes! The grand prize winner will receive a digital publishing contract with MeeGenius, including royalties for each book sold. A cash prize of $1,500 dollars and a donation of a MeeGenius library to the school of the winner’s choice! We will also have three runner-up prizes, which include a $500 cash prize and publishing contract.
Margo: I love that prize of a donation to a school. Schools are always in need of new technology and books! Who are the judges?
Wandy: This is the cool part of the contest; the judges are your peers, family, friends, fans, and MeeGenius users! All manuscripts will be posted on the MeeGenius site; the manuscripts with the most “like” (Facebook like button) will advance to the finalist round. The second way to advance will be through a staff favorite pick.
Thanks for everyone’s patience while I reviewed the Picture Book Premise entries. There were some wonderful ideas and I had a difficult time choosing my favorite. In the end, it boiled down to my gut reaction.
And thus, I got a feeling of what it’s like to be an editor, inundated with multiple pitches, trying to decide which stories sounded the most appealing.
Most of my regular blog friends know that I’m a quirky, humorous writer, so it will surprise you to know the winning premise was NOT quirky or funny! (Hey, it surprised me, too!) I now understand why agents and writers don’t typically tell aspiring authors what they’re looking for. Instead they say, “I’ll know it when I see it.” If I advertised that I only wanted laugh-out-loud premises, I would have missed out on some unique ideas.
Before I tell you the winner (I know, I’m like an awards show cutting to commercial), I’d like to give everyone a few tips on how to write their premises.
Your premise is your pitch. If you have to write a query letter, it’s the whiz-bang-pow paragraph that gets the editor begging to see more. It’s also your 60-second elevator pitch. When you meet an editor or agent and they ask, “What do you write?”, it’s your chance to dazzle them and entice them to request the manuscript.
Your premise should read like jacket copy. Here’s the jacket copy from Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen’s THE HOG PRINCE:
“Eldon Hog is fed up with mud-swallowing and slop-gobbling. He and his friend, Petunia, watch the royal carriage pass by every morning, and Eldon dreams of becoming a princely passenger.
“So it seems that all of Eldon’s dreams have come true when Miranda, a somewhat frazzled fairy, tells him that if he can break the Hog Prince spell put upon him, he will transform into a prince. SMOOOOCHES abound as Eldon searches far and wide for that magical, spell-breaking kiss. He tricks the Cinder girl, Ella (Smoooch! Eek!); Lady Aurora, spinning gold (Smoooch! Yecchhh!); and all the ladies he can find. But is it possible that true love has been sitting under his snout all along?”
Now, that may be a tad big longish for jacket copy, but see how it ends in a question that begs for an answer? You’re left hanging until you open that book and read on.
Not everyone sent a premise that sounded like jacket copy. Some only gave me one sentence, which wasn’t enough to understand what the entire story was about. I couldn’t envision the character or their predicament fully.
Others wrote a little too much detail. Remember you’re pitching a picture book, so if your premise is wordy, an editor may assume that your manuscript is full of unnecessary words. Trim down your pitch; trim down your story’s word count.
Others sent me snippets from their story, but I wanted to see that you could tell me about the story without sending the manuscript. That’s what editors and agents will ask for in a query. If they ask for a query letter but you send the manuscript instead, it may be discarded for not following instructions. (To be fair, I didn’t say DON’T send the manuscript, but you get my gist.)
And now onto the winners!
First, the person who referred the most people to my blog was MONA PEASE! You have won a picture book critique, redeemable at any time, as long as I’m still alive! LOL!
Next, I’ll tell you a little about the premise I choo
Recently, I judged a personal essay contest for a regional writing group. I love judging contests as it exposes me to some great writing and some not-so-great writing. With most of the entries, I found myself being able to tell in a few paragraphs whether or not to put the essay in the possible winners pile or the sorry pile. Everything I’d heard from editors and agents at conferences was true—in most cases, you can tell whether a piece of writing works or doesn’t from the first page. While judging the personal essays, I came up with some criteria for the winners that I thought I’d share. Writing personal essays has become popular—so what makes them successful?The Topic An interesting and unique topic was one of the first criteria I used to separate the winners from the rest of the batch. Personal essays can be about anything—your childhood playmate, a vacation gone wrong, a favorite teacher. When judging the entries, I found the best essays to be about topics that other writers left alone—a trip into the past that featured an ice truck, a daughter and father that grew grapes for wine, and a summer job in a factory with an opera-singing Sicilian. Sure, all of these were also well written, but the topic caught my attention and kept me reading until the end of the essay.When you are writing, think of unusual events, activities, and even people in your life—could you write a personal essay about them? If you are writing for a themed anthology—such as Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers’ Soul—then you’re a bit limited on your topic choices; but you can still brainstorm unusual topics or angles within that theme. The VoiceLike all forms of writing, the voice of a personal essay is extremely important. It is your voice since you’re telling a personal story. It shouldn’t sound stilted or like the reader opened an encyclopedia. It should sound like the writer is sitting on the front porch, telling this story to someone else. The StructureWhen judging the essays, the structure I found that works best is the circle structure. The author starts the essay with a general statement or a scene that leads into the rest of the essay. At the conclusion, the writer wraps up the essay with a mention of or some tie-in to the beginning scene.Besides the circle structure, another type of ending that works well for personal essays is the twist or surprise. If the writer chooses to use a twist at the end, it’s usually something clever or funny that happened that readers will not expect. These types of endings usually work better with short stories or even children�
Write a story to go with the writing prompt I provided and you could win a trip to NYC, courtesy of Simon & Schuster's Pulse It group and Wattpad.com. I might even meet you there. :)
All the details HERE.
By Penny Eifrig, for The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 16, 2011
Kids are creative. Have you ever watched a kid battle imaginary dragons or build cityscapes from blocks? When they sit down with paints and pens, they rarely take long to begin their masterpieces. And kids can come up with some amazing stories. When I started my publishing company a few years ago, in addition to publishing good books for kids, I wanted to help inspire kids to become authors and illustrators, too. While it is not really feasible to turn every child’s story or poems into a real book, it is still exciting and inspiring for kids when they can share their stories with the larger community. So this summer, kids can submit their stories (illustrated or not) by uploading them to the website www.eifrigpublishing.com or sending them to [email protected], where they will all be published online as “flip books.” At the end of summer, a jury will be selecting one book by an elementary-aged child and one middle-schooler, which will be made into a paperback book. The student can select a local non-profit or charity to which all proceeds will be donated from any sales of the book. And everyone can go online and read and share all of the stories that these young authors have created.
Deadline for submissions: September 1, 2011
The stories will be available online as they come in at: www.eifrigpublishing.com/young-authors
DETAILS
WHAT: The First Annual EIFRIG PUBLISHING YACK! Event (YOUNG AUTHORS-CREATIVE KIDS)
WHEN: Final date for submissions is September 1, 2011
DETAILS: All kids up to age 14 are invited to submit their stories (prose, poetry, picture books, etc.) to Eifrig Publishing. We will include every story in the Young Author’s bookstore as an online flip book, where kids from around the world can read and enjoy their writing (for free). At the end of the event (final date for submissions is September 1, 2011), a jury will select one elementary school story and one middle school story to be made into a published paperback. The winning students will then select a charity or non-profit organization to whom all proceeds will be given.
Empowering kids to be the best they can be — creatively and as active participants in their communities!
If you are a young writer and would like to share your work, please contact us for details on how to send us your .pdf or .doc files. Libraries and schools, please contact us for details on the event as well!
You can check out what your book will look like by PREVIEWING any of the children’s books on the Eifrig Publishing website!
Children (everyone under the age of 18) must have parental permission to upload the stories. By uploading, it is understood that no remuneration will be paid for any stories submitted. Copyright remains with the author. All proceeds from the sale of any stories will be donated to the charities and non-profits selected by the kids themselves.
CONTACT: Penny Eifrig, [email protected] , 814 235 1501
©2011 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.
.
CLIVE CUSSLER SOCIETY ADVENTURE WRITERS COMPETITION http://cusslersociety.com/writers_competition.html
NO ENTRY FEE
Full-length submittals must be original and cannot include characters from another authors’ work – i.e. fan-fiction is not allowed. The length of the manuscript shall not exceed 130K words or less than 50K words. Contest limited to 25 entries.
Competition Rules:
Manuscripts will be accepted beginning October 1, 2011. The competition deadline is January 1, 2012 with a maximum of 25 entries/manuscripts. The competition will be closed with the receipt of the 25th manuscript.
Eligibility:
(a) Participants must be 18 years of age by October 1, 2011.
(b) The Adventure Writers’ Competition is open only to unpublished writers.*
An “unpublished writer” is defined as: an author whose fictional work has not appeared in book, magazine, or periodical format via a Fortune 500 recognized publishing firm. Self-published/Vanity Press authors are eligible as long as their work has not appeared in any of the formats listed above.
(c) Clive Cussler Collectors Society’ Officers, Panel Judges, and their families/relatives are not eligible for the contest.
Rules & Submittal Requirements:
(a) Full-length submittals must be original and cannot include characters from another authors’ work – i.e. fan-fiction is not allowed.
(b) The length of the manuscript shall not exceed 130K words or less than 50K words.
(c) Format: 12 pt.- Times New Roman font, paginated and double-spaced with one-inch margins, and numbered pages.
(d) Writers may only submit one manuscript.
(e) Submitted manuscripts must be of the action-adventure genre. The story must have action and conflict, and the reader must identify with the character(s) in order to draw them into the plot. Fantasy and Science Fiction entries will not be accepted.
(f) The deadline of the competition is January 1, 2012.
(g) Attendance to the Clive Cussler Collector’s Society Convention is not required to claim the Grand Prize.
(h) A minimum of 10 entries/manuscripts will need to be submitted by the deadline for this competition to take place, with a maximum of 25 entries/manuscripts.
____________________________________________________________________
REMINDER: Two Networking Dinners in NYC on July 19th and 20th. Still a few spaces open.
September 30th – October 2 – Writer’s Retreat – Princeton Hyatt Regency. Don’t miss the opportunity to spend the weekend with Editors, Connie Hsu and Heather Alexander.
If you are going to the Annual SCBWI Conference in Los Angles in August and would like to get-together, please let me know. I will try to put something together.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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We’re loading up our 2007 HHR on Friday and heading to Cleveland for my sister-in-law’s wedding. We’re all very excited, and this is Katie’s first big car trip (10 hours). I’m not sure how excited she actually is. . .:) We are traveling in the late afternoon and evening to hopefully make it easier for her. I’m sure Logan (10 years old) hopes that this makes it easier for him, too, as he is usually the baby-entertainer in the back seat. Anyway, I’ll be gone for a while and part of it without Internet access, so Read These Books and Use Them is going on hiatus until August 1. Starting August 1, I’ll be back with the winner of the contest I am about to announce as well as new posts about books and how to use them! So. . .
While I was thinking about going on vacation and getting ready to move (hopefully we are leasing our home) by August 1, I was thinking, What can I do on my blog? , and I decided to talk about the books I’m reading and to hold a little contest. Currently, I am reading Miss Scarlet’s School of Patternless Sewing, which I am enjoying immensely. It’s definitely geared toward women–whether it’s women’s fiction, chic lit, or romance–I’m not far enough along to tell you yet. But I have been captivated since page one, so check out what people have to say about it by clicking below:
Also, I am listening to Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin, which is a YA book with some fantasy mixed in. I am also enjoying this book and the mystery that is playing throughout. I will be blogging about it here in August, so stay tuned for that.
Yes, yes, there is a contest. . .here’s what you do. Simply respond to this post and tell me 1. what books you or your children are reading this summer 2. if you would recommend these books to us 3. your email address
What you can win. . .
I am giving away a free 10-page critique from my Editor 911 business. You can either use it for the first 10 pages of a novel or a short story that is up to 10 pages. If you are not a writer yourself, you can give it away to anyone!–your sister, your children, your spouse–anyone!
Also, if you ever do write anything or need an editor and mention that you saw this post (you don’t have to enter the contest to take advantage of this), then you can get a 10% discount on your overall bill. 
Contest ends on July 31 at 8:00 p.m. CST. You can enter as many times as you like–so if you start reading a new book, please leave another comment and enter again. I will critique/edit/proofread anyone’s story from age 3 to 103 (or older) that is the winner of this contest. The winner will be chosen by using random.org (love this site!)
Happy reading!
See you all on August 1.
If you have any questions about my editing business, Editor 911, please feel free to email me at margodll (at) aol.com at anytime before or after August 1. I will have access to email periodically while I’m gone.
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Do you love to play with words, arrange them in artistic ways? Have you written poetry or a short story? If the answer is yes, then maybe you will want to consider The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest. The people at Dream Quest say if you have an abilty to dream, you have an ability to win.
Write a poem or short story for a chance to win cash prizes. All works must be original.
Guidelines:
Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style, or form, typed or neatly hand printed. And/or write a short story, five pages maximum length, on any subject or theme, creative writing fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal entries and screenwriting). Also, must be typed or neatly hand printed.
Multiple poetry and short story entries are accepted.
Postmark deadline: July 31, 2011
All contest winners will be announced on August 31, 2011
Entry Form: http://www.dreamquestone.com/entryform.html
Prizes:
Writing Contest First Prize is $500. Second Prize: $250. Third Prize: $100.
Poetry Contest First Prize is $250. Second Prize: $125. Third Prize: $50.
Entry fees:
$10 per short story.
$5 per poem.
To send entries: Include title(s) with your story (ies) or poem(s), along with your name, address, phone#, email, brief biographical info.
(Tell us a little about yourself), on the coversheet. Add a self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation.
Mail entries/fees payable to: “DREAMQUESTONE.COM”
Dream Quest One
Poetry & Writing Contest
P.O. Box 3141
Chicago, IL 60654
Visit http://www.dreamquestone.com <http://www.dreamquestone.com/> <http://www.dreamquestone.com/rules.html>for
further details and to enter!
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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The Tenth Glass Woman Prize in effect, now through September 21, 2011.
GUIDELINES FOR The Tenth Glass Woman Prize:
The Tenth Glass Woman Prize will be awarded for a work of short fiction or creative non-fiction (prose) written by a woman.
Length: between 50 and 5,000 words.
The top prize for the tenth Glass Woman Prize award is US $500 and possible (but not obligatory) online publication; there will also be one runner up prize of $100 and one runner up prize of $50, together with possible (but not obligatory) online publication.
Subject is open, but must be of significance to women. The criterion is passion, excellence, and authenticity in the woman’s writing voice. Previously published work and simultaneous submissions are okay. Authors retain all copyright is retained by the author.
No reading fee.
Previous winners are welcome to submit again for any subsequent prize.
Submission deadline: September 21, 2011 (receipt date).
Notification date: on or before December 21, 2011.
Submissions will not be returned, rejected, or otherwise acknowledged except for the winner and results announcement on this site: http://www.sigriddaughter.com under Glass Woman. Every submission will be read with respect and with commitment to the voices of women in this world.
Only one submission per person per submission period, by email, with “Glass Woman Prize Submission” in the subject line and the text pasted in the body of the email (no attachments!) to: [email protected]
IMPORTANT: Put “Glass Woman Prize Submission” in subject line.
Put Text in body of email. Please put your email address in the body of the email as well.
Entries will be ignored and deleted that do not follow the guidelines.
Example: submissions with any kind of attachment, more than one piece of writing in a given prize reading period, more than 5,000 words, poetry, plays, or submissions without “Glass Woman Prize Submission” in the subject line of the email.
*Please note that some fancy email stationery comes across as attachment; almost all illustrations come across as attachments; please do not use them in connection with the Glass Woman Prize.
Good Luck!
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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When I took my first fiction writing course in college, the professor compared our weekly writing assignments to a contest. On Mondays, we received a word count and a theme. During class time, each of us roadmapped a perfect plot, played with character development, created a distinct mood.
On Friday, we handed our (usually) handwritten stories to the person on our left for their consumption (or condemnation, depending on the student). Occasionally, we'd read aloud to the rest of the class. By the following Monday, professor would select a winning story of the week and share it with us.
I never won. But, this method of instruction - hours filled with nothing but writing and honing the craft - provided one of the greatest lessons about the writing contests: competition develops writing skills.
Why should YOU enter a writing contest? I'll share four lessons I learned:
- Guidelines offer focus. Writing within parameters forces you to focus on your message. Word baggage is eliminated and the piece forms a tightly-written story. A theme provides focus, but it does not limit your imagination. Creativity in plot and word choice are limitless! Even genre-specific contests let you stretch your writing prowess by crafting a new world or twisting history.
- Attitude is everything. Did I stop writing when I didn't win in class? Heck, no. I never gave up. Instead, the competition and my lack of "prized success" pushed me to develop my craft by tuning in to what wasn't working in my stories. I never viewed those works as failures. They just weren't what the instructor was looking for. A positive attitude makes a difference, and I was positive to continue trying!
- Contests give writers permission to write. If you're set on entering a contest, you've given yourself permission to schedule time to write. Sometimes outside forces control the amount of time we dedicate to our craft, but knowing you have a deadline and plan to enter your best work gives you the say-so to make time to write.
- Writing increases confidence. I've entered several poetry contests and I've experienced some success. It's a confidence boost! Even when I didn't win the grand prize, I made fantastic discoveries: what judges are looking for, what writing styles do or don't work, how other writers approach the challenge. These lessons also boost belief in my work.
Entering a writing contest may be a big step for a writer, but it's an action that will enhance your writing.
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at her website. Graphic design by LuAnn Schindler
You can post your 500 word (or less) writing entry as a comment to THIS post or to the one below that announces the contest (and lists the details).
Be sure to include the phrase "he had it coming to him" in your entry!
Good luck! We look forward to reading your stories and/or poems.
(drum roll, please) I'm thrilled to announce our very first writing contest for the blog!
For the first three weeks of March, this blog will host its very first writing contest! All entries will be posted to the blog and voted on by blog readers. The winner gets a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble or Amazon and their winning entry posted here and on the UT Children's Writers email group (hopefully more prizes will be added throughout the month!).
Here are the requirements:
-write a short story or poem, any age, any genre
-use the phrase "he had it coming to him" in the writing (you can change it to she/her)
-post your writing as a comment to this or the previous blog post
-check back to read others' entries
-vote for your favorite story
All comments must be submitted by 11:59 pm on Saturday March 26th. Voting will take place the last week of March. Winner(s) will be announced on April 1st.
**if you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
**if you would like to add something to the prize collection, please let me know!
By: Kathy Temean,
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At Suvudu, we’re aware that getting your work into the hands of a professional editor can be a major hurdle in the road to publication. Many New York publishers do not accept submissions except from literary agents. That’s why we’re making available this limited opportunity to put your best manuscript of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or paranormal romance into consideration by the Del Rey/Spectra staff.
Del Rey/Spectra through Suvudu will be accepting submissions from now through March 18, 2011, of previously unpublished manuscripts of no more than 150,000 words. Over the next few months, they will be judged on the basis of originality, creativity, and writing style. The top submission will receive a full edit of the submitted work by Betsy Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey Publishing, and the story will be considered for publication. Three runners-up will receive a set of Del Rey/Spectra titles selected by Suvudu.
When you’re ready to submit, click here to fill out the entry form. Once you’ve done so, you’ll receive an e-mail from Suvudu. Send your submission in response to the e-mail to enter the contest. Click here for official contest rules.
DEADLINE: March 18, 2011 (EST), and open only to legal residents of the United States, excluding Puerto Rico, who are age 18 and over as of January 18, 2011.
The winners will be announced on May 18, 2011.
Now I know there are a lot of good manuscripts in this genre, so go for it. Good Luck!
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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MrsP.com announced today the names of the two Grand Prize winners in its second “Be a Famous Writer” contest, a nationwide creative-writing competition for children held every September.
Briana Beebe, 8, of Centennial, Colorado, won top honors in the 4- to 8-year-old category for “Mountain Dog,” the story of a beloved pet that disappears during a family’s move to a new home. Bill Wang, 12, from West Linn, Oregon, won in the 9-13 age group for “Lucky the Bamboo Chopper,” the fable of a young panda bear who learns an important life lesson.
“I was thrilled with the entries this year, which came in from 26 states – more than half the country,” said TV star Kathy Kinney, who portrays Mrs. P and is one of the creators of the website. “I was also very happy about the number of teachers who used the writing contest as a class project. Encouraging one child to write an original story is wonderful. Encouraging 30 is absolutely amazing.”
The Grand Prize winners will have their stories produced as videos featuring Mrs. P, which will be presented on her popular free, interactive digital website. Original artwork by award-winning Portland, Oregon-based illustrator Robin E. Kaplan will help bring the stories to life. The videos will be posted on the website (www.MrsP.com) beginning in March. Each winner will also receive an actual bound copy of the story and illustrations.
Powell’s Books (www.Powells.com), the country’s largest independent bookseller and the sponsor of the contest, will provide the Grand Prize winners and eight other finalists with gift certificates to its store. The stories will also be available as a free download bundle from iTunes on March 2nd in celebration of Read Across America Day.
MrsP.com announced that it will produce two other stories from the contest as videos: “The Peanut Butter and Jelly Hotdog,” written by a 5-year-old and chosen because of its clever and compassionate look at grade-school bullies; and “Ramona and the Fire,” honored for its amusing twist on “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” fable.
The judges for this year’s contest included some of the world’s most famous writers: #1 best-selling author Meg Cabot (“The Princess Diaries”); Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, the most popular cartoon strip in the world; and Danny Kallis, creator of the Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and “The Suite Life on Deck,” television’s top-rated shows for kids.
MrsP.com was launched in 2008 to encourage a love of reading. The website is the recipient of the American Library Association’s “Great Website for Kids.”
I don’t know how many in this audience can write in English and Spanish, but I thought perhaps there may be a few. If you are one of those bilingual writers, then you might want to submit something to this new non-profit publisher – Ediciones Monarcas. They have received money to publish books from Infinity Auto Insurance to help promote reading and enrich the learning environment for children in Hispanic households by providing parents and grandparents with education and the necessary resources to improve their children’s reading habits.
The contest awards a thousand dollars to one winner each month, but the contract does not include royalities. They will distrubutethe 50,000 to 60,000 paperbook copies to these Hispanic households.
Infinity Auto Insurance Leer Conmigo Award in Children’s Literature
Ediciones Monarcas—a new, not-for-profit publisher of bilingual (Spanish-English) books for children—announces the Infinity Auto Insurance Leer Conmigo Award in Children’s Literature. Each month we will award a $1,000 prize and publish the best submission we receive.
Guidelines:
• Deadline for the next $1,000 prize: Jan. 17, 2011
• Submissions should be appropriate for children K-5
• Submissions must be bilingual: English-Spanish
• Illustrations should not accompany the submission
• Content is open, although it must be age appropriate
• Send up to 32 pages total with these specifications: 16 pages max. in English, 16 pages max. in Spanish
• Each page should have no more than approximately 100 words. (Given linguistic requirements of Spanish that don’t govern English, the Spanish text will have slightly more words.)
• You may submit up to 5 mss, although send each in separate emails.
• There is no reading fee.
• Submissions from authors outside of the U.S. are very welcomed.
• We will distribute winning books via the Leer Conmigo Program in an initial print run of 50,000-60,000 copies.
• Email submission to: [email protected]. (Contest website coming soon.)
The goal of Leer Conmigo and its subsidiary Ediciones Monarcas is to enrich the learning environment for children in Hispanic households by providing parents and grandparents with education and the necessary resources to improve their children’s reading habits and to foster a life-long love of reading in multiple languages. Leer Conmigo and Ediciones Monarcas are supported by Infinity Auto Insurance Company (NASDAQ:IPCC and online at InfinityAuto.com.)
Sounds like a good cause, where you can get publsihed and make a little money. Please let me know if you submit and have anything to add.
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
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Writing Contest
1 Comments on No Fee Get Published Contest, last added: 1/11/2011
Today, I have something special to share with all you teachers, parents, and librarians who are also children’s writers (or aspiring children’s writers). Wandy Yeap Hoh, the founder and Co-CEO of MeeGenius!, is a mother of three girls, and they love a good story and MeeGenius! Wandy believes that no great story should be left in the dark and hopes to bring every great story to all the children in the world.
Wandy: We are very excited about our new author contest! The contest gives aspiring authors an opportunity to have their manuscript read, reviewed, and voted on by the online community. The contest is for unpublished authors only, and our goal is to provide an avenue for these authors to get discovered. The contest begins on September 15th and will end November 1. All manuscripts will be voted on from November 28th – December 18th. The finalist will be announced and then illustrated for the finalist round of voting. The contest will officially end with the winner announced on March 7, 2012. 
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WOW!WOW!WOW!
This is exciting. I won a critique from Tara Lazar. And what’s doubly exciting, is that my friend Val is right there with me.
Thank you thank you Tara Lazar!!!!
Mona
Congratulations Mona and Valarie. You will receive such a wonderful critique. I am happy for you.
Thanks so much for offering this contest, Tara.
Linda A.
How do we see which 7 you “starred”?
Good question! I suppose I will list the 7 semi-finalists by name! Coming soon…
Congratulations Mona and Valerie!
Tara, thanks for running the contest and giving me a reason to tighten up my craziest concept.
Way to go Mona & Valarie!!!! Congrats & definite envy
Looks like I counted wrong! I starred 9 premises! The 8 semi-finalists, in no particular order, were: Penny Klosterman, Maria Ashworth, Sandy Brehl, Jim Hill, Olga Loya, Erin Shakespeare and Susan Parker.
More excitement for me..not only is Val my crit partner and friend, so are two others of the starred authors…I just hang out with the write people!!! Thank heavens for cyber friends. Congratulations to all.
Mona