Saturday, December 02, 2006

Found Magazine Contest




We're teaming up with Found Magazine's James Molenda for a writing contest exclusive to MFA BLOG readers. But sure to get your submission in by Thursday, December 14th. Letter from James below...

Hello, MFAists! Or should that be MFAers? You can probably tell that we at FOUND didn't quite make it to any MFA programs (not including Davy, though - he's actually a bonafide writer); instead, we've been content to build a project around the notes, photos, and illustrations that get lost, tossed, or forgotten. But we've always had a lot of respect for writers, poets, essayists, and all of the other creative sorts that MFA programs guide. So, after some cross-coastal talks with Mr. MFA Handbook, Tom Kealey, he and I decided that we would throw a little contest. We provide a found prompt, and you write a story, poem, or essay inspired by the find. A poet buddy of ours told us that this was an exercise in the ekphrastic arts - we'll take his word for it. The winner will get a free FOUND Book II from us and a copy of Tom's MFA Handbook. Plus, we'll post the winning entry on our website - so make your entry a good one! We'll let Tom fill in the rest of the details. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

So, here are the rules:

+ Maximum essay / short story length is 2,000 words
+ No maximum length for poetry (if any of you want to write an epic poem about this find, we will NOT stop you)
+ Send entries to MFAHandbookFOUNDContest@gmail.com
+ Entries must be received before Thursday, December 14th, 2006
+ We’ll announce the winner Friday, December 15th, 2006
+ We’ll post the winning entry on the FOUND website!

OK, and here’s the find:

Bug and Tent
FOUND by Elaine in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
“The Volkswagen has ‘NL’ on the back (The Netherlands) and there seems to be someone running into the tent to avoid being pictured?”

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe he meant 'ecphractic'? ;)

Sara said...

Nope, ekphrastic is right (It can also be spelled with a "c"). I took a class on it last year. It basically means one art form (say writing) uses another art form (say photography) for inspiration. Here's a little more info if you're interested: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Ecphrasis

EJ said...

Brooklyn, I feel your pain. I was humming along for a month or two, then I hit the wall. The first rec I asked for is the last to arrive (asked him to hold off for a few days while double checking the need for forms, since I caught one school requiring a form when I finished the app -- darn not up to date websites!). So now I fear I missed the window and that rec will be late. I have lost momentum, in general.

I'm 35 and have no idea how to describe myself and my work in 1 or 2 pages. I mean jeez. Have not worked nearly enough on my sample (recently, that is, all were revised tremendously in class, after each class and for my senior thesis). Ack!

Anonymous said...

I know this is the wrong place for this question, but I can't e-mail you directly at the moment.

For the Personal Statement, should it be 1.5 pages single-spaced? Double-spaced? If single-spaced, should there be line breaks between paragraphs for ease of reading?

Many thanks,
Mike