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Time to get back to the old drawing board with your writing. Even if you don’t find this contest your cup of tea, at least start something new. It could be just the thing for the next contest. Maybe Barbara DiLorenza illustration below will inspire you. Barbara was featured on Illustrator Saturday on April 14th, 2012. Click Here to View.

The Elderberry Prize for Short Fiction.

Content

Short Fiction submissions may fall in any fiction genre allowed by the General Rules.  We are looking for fresh ideas, creative story lines, and interesting characters.  Authors are encouraged to express their own style and unique perspective, and to tell stories that are compelling rather than formulaic.  As always, stories should be free of spelling, grammatical and typographical errors.  Please proof-read your work before submitting.

Length

Submissions should be no longer than 5,000 words, and while there is no lower limit to the acceptable word-count we are generally expecting work in the 3,000 to 5,000 word range.  Submissions longer than 5,000 will be accepted, but no content after the 5,000th word will be considered (i.e. we will stop reading after 5,000 words).

Fee: $18

Submission Deadlines

In 2013, the Elderberry Prize for Short Fiction will be awarded in June, September and December, so submission deadlines for 2013 are May 31, August 31 and November 30.

Awards

A cash prize of $500 is awarded to the winning submission in each Elderberry Short Fiction contest.  In 2013, three such prizes will be awarded in accordance with the Prizes section of the General Contest Rules.  Additional, small cash prizes may be awarded for non-winning submissions at Scribulous’ sole discretion.  The winning entry for each contest will be published in the Winners’ Works section of the Scribulous web site for a period of one year, and will be archived in a format that can be searched and retrieved by readers in perpetuity.

Elderberry Short Fiction Rules Fiction Contest Rules

The Elderberry Prize for Biography.

Content

Each submission for the Biography contest must fit within a fairly traditional definition of biography.  It must be a non-fiction account of the life of a real person, written by someone other than the subject of the biography.  It is not necessary to cover the subject’s entire life in this format – biographies that explore a period in the subject’s life, or even a single event in the subject’s life are acceptable.  Note that autobiographies are not appropriate for this contest.

In judging biographies we will be looking for stories that communicate truths or lessons-learned that transcend the life of the subject or the author.  While the stories themselves may be very personal, they should communicate something of relevance to the reader.  A connection to a larger community, society or culture is what gives the story meaning.

Length

Submissions should be no longer than 5,000 words, and while there is no lower limit to the acceptable word-count we are generally expecting work in the 3,000 to 5,000 word range.  Submissions longer than 5,000 will be accepted, but no content after the 5,000th word will be considered (i.e. we will stop reading after 5,000 words).

Fee: $18

Submission Deadlines

The Elderberry Prize for Short Biography will be awarded in April, July and October of 2013 and January of 2014, so submission deadlines for 2013 are March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31.

Awards

A cash prize of $500 is awarded to the winning submission in each Elderberry Biography contest.  In 2013, three such prizes will be awarded in accordance with the Prizes section of the General Contest Rules.  Additional, small cash prizes may be awarded for non-winning submissions at Scribulous’ sole discretion.  The winning entry for each contest will be published in the Winners’ Works section of the Scribulous web site for a period of one year, and will be archived in a format that can be searched and retrieved by readers in perpetuity.

Elderberry Short Biography Rules Biography Contest Rules

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy