Dead of Winter Nonfiction Contest

CLOSED

It’s the dead of winter. Your hands are cold. Your feet are cold. Your earlobes are cold. Everything is cold. Outside, the landscape is a frozen whitish-blue. Dreary, if you think about it. But inside you beats a writer’s heart, warm with thoughts of stories, old and new. Fond reminiscence, important ideas, strong opinions. Send them our way. We’re waiting for a good read over a steaming cup of hot chocolate!

Guidelines

Every entry receives a free critique!                                                      

(Optional: To receive a thorough line edit, enclose an additional $5 per story, plus 9 X 12 SASE with enough postage for returning your story.)

DEADLINE: Postmarked by January 31, 2008.

ENTRY FEE: $5 per entry, maximum of three entries. Checks payable to: The Write Helper. 

PRIZES:  1^st Place $70

               2^nd Place $35

               3^rd Place $20

RULES:

1. Open subject, open genre. (Nonfiction only—memoir, essay, articles, prose. *See note below.)
2. Unpublished at time of submission, original work of contestant.
3. Standard manuscript form: 81/2 x 11 paper, typed and double-spaced, pages numbered, 12 point Times New Roman.
4. No more than 2,000 words, excluding title.
5. Attach paper clip to your story, no staples.
6. Cover sheet for each story, with contestant’s name, address, phone number, email (if you have one), and title of entry. (Name may only appear on cover sheet, not manuscript.)
7. Postmarked no later than January 31, 2008. DO NOT SEND BY CERTIFIED MAIL!
8. Mail flat, not folded, with sufficient postage to:

       Dead of Winter Nonfiction Contest

       c/o Amy Harke-Moore

       104 Harke Lane

       Old Monroe, MO 63369

9. Checks payable to: The Write Helper.
10. For free critique, provide either an email address or business-sized SASE so we can get your critique to you. For optional $5 line edit, enclose 9 X 12 SASE with enough postage to return your story.
11. For electronic submission, paste work into the body of an email along with the title, your name and address, and send to: amy@thewritehelper.com. Click on the PAY NOW button at the bottom of this page to send payment. (For processing electronic submissions, each entry is an additional $1.) After we receive your payment, you will be notified that we received your entry.

Contest is open to everyone. For a list of winners, check our website: thewritehelper.com after March 1, 2008.

Decision of the judges is final. Not responsible for lost or misdirected entries. Winning entry has the opportunity to be published on our website, along with a profile of the author. Manuscripts will not be returned.

*What we mean by nonfiction is writing in which the facts can be verified. No changing elements to "enhance" the story. If you feel the need to make Aunt Jane's sweater red instead of purple just because it's a Christmas essay, then our contest is not for you.