You may want to consider (or continue) applying for prizes and awards. There are a number of resources out there listing prizes, grants and awards - from Poets & Writers to the Writers Chronicle. But be sure to research the prize to make sure it is legitimate and then read the fine print (look out for the fees). For those of you who are still undergraduates, there are some interesting possibilities out there. Stony Brook Southampton has a $1000 Short Fiction Prize open to all full-time undergraduates in the US and Canada (no fee). NewPages.com has a list of contests organized by deadline dates.
What contests have you entered? What was the result? Any to recommend? Comments, please!
13 comments:
Thanks so much for this--it's a great idea (and I want these poems to see the light of day outside of an admissions office). I just applied with some poems to the Memoir(and) contest specifically because of the link you posted.
I'm participating in NYC Midnight's Short Story Challenge next week. Their competitions are always a blast, and they have a really kickin' forum where you can post your work and comment on other writers' work. Needless to say, it's a GREAT distraction during MFA time (plus there's a $ prize and some exposure). I'd definitely recommend it!
I also recommend that people apply to their state art councils and other local grant giving institutions. I received an artist enrichment grant in December that will allow me to attend at least two workshops and a couple of retreats.
I applied for the ILP International Literature Award a few days ago. They were looking for a piece that extends beyond America's borders, and I happened to have one (set in Brazil). The prize is a trip to Lisbon for their conference this summer...awesome!
Actually, I have a manuscript of poetry...somewhere in the piles on my desks that Louise Glück had the chance to look at a few years back for the Yale Younger Poets Series Competition. My guess is that she read it thought it was " ," which is bad for a contest that seeks only one winning collection of poems. I will take my pen to it sometime down the line...lol.
Hello,
I am an undergraduate writer and I have been reading your posts... Thanks for these two links!! I am going to try for some contests. :) I do have a question about entering in writing contests though. I was thinking of entering with one of my best short stories, however, I was thinking of making it a full novel in the future. Is it safe to still spill my idea in the contest? Let me know! I am also looking for new ideas for writing so I have tried to set up a blog where writers can go and share ideas! http://www.awritersconnection.blogspot.com/
Not really related to awards or even the MFA, but I found this post on a law school blog about how to handle the waiting game, and I found it to be helpful: http://www.lawschoolexpert.com/blog/tag/waiting-for-law-school-admission-decisions/
"I’m hearing from a lot of my law school admission consulting clients today about their aggravation with the waiting game. They’ve applied to law school and they just want me to tell them where they’ll get into law school, to devise a mathematical calculation that proves where they’ll be admitted and where they won’t....
The unpredictable nature of getting into law school, the fact that your index alone does not dictate your end result, is the reason to LOVE the system. For those of you with a split – high GPA/low LSAT or low LSAT/high GPA, or just those who apply to reach schools, the fact that there isn’t a numerical calculation that mandates your response means you have a SHOT."
Dunno if that's true, but it made me feel better.
-Ashley
@Jim W - Glad to hear it!
@Anna, Thereandbackagain, ThePensiveMonkey - Thanks for the info!
@bookholm - Great encouragement, thanks!
@Zak - Often the best way you have to get an agent's or publisher's attention for a novel is to show them that a section of it (like the short story version) has already garnered attention and is liked. So yes, enter at will. If you are worried about your idea being stolen (and that's not usually a huge problem) you can always register your work with the Writers Guild of America. The service is available via their website (east or west, depending on where you live) and they will store your info for 10 years for a small fee. You can also use the old-fashioned way of mailing your story to yourself, and then sticking the sealed envelope in a drawer until needed. The postmark on the envelope is legal proof of the date the story was produced.
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