Writing Contest
13th Annual GPS Writing Contest
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural and Alternate History Fiction
Sponsored by the Geek Partnership Society (GPS) - a society celebrating imagination, inspiring creativity, and building our community through service and education.
2011 RULES AND
SUBMISSION FORMAT
Divisions
Entries will be grouped and judged in these categories:
Open Division: Open to writers of any age. There will be TWO (2) winners chosen from this category. One winner will be chosen from all entries. An additional winner will be chosen from contestants residing in the local area to receive the Scott Imes Award.
The Scott Imes Award
The GPS premier award proudly honors Scott Imes, a major force in the Twin Cities' science fiction reading and writing community, who passed away in December 2001. For over two decades, Scott Imes worked at Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore; his recommendations served those far beyond its doors.
Poetry Division: Open to entries from writers of any age.
Youth Division 1: Open to writers 13 years of age or younger (as of May 25, 2011).
Youth Division 2: Open to writers 14-16 years of age (as of May 25, 2011).
Contest Rules
Download Writing Contest Rules (PDF Format).
All entries must be original unpublished works by nonprofessional (amateur) authors.
ONE ENTRY PER PERSON in either the Open Division or one of the Youth Divisions. An entry can be made to the Poetry Division in addition to ONE of the other Divisions.
There is NO entry fee for any submission.
Division winners from 2010 are not eligible to win in the same division in 2011 - but are allowed to enter a different division.
Entries must meet the stated Rules and Submission Format or they will be refused. If this happens the author will be notified via email and allowed to resubmit the corrected entry by the contest deadline (11:59 pm CDT on May 25, 2011).
By entering the contest, the author of a winning entry gives permission to GPS to publish their submission in a yearly volume of contest-winning entries and any future anthologies of winning entries. The winning entries may also be posted on the GPS web site.
Submission Details
Entries must be an MS Word (or equivalent word processing software) document.
Entries must be 5,000 words OR FEWER.
Entries must be typed as follows:
8.5" x 11" size
1 inch margins
Double-spaced
11 pt font
Black text in Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman
Pages numbered
Story/poem title should appear on each page of the manuscript, but author's name should only appear on the title page.
Entries must be submitted electronically by emailing the entry as an attachment to writingcontest@geekpartnership.org. ONE ENTRY PER EMAIL MESSAGE. If you have more than one entry they must be sent in separate email messages.
Title Page
The title page should include the following contact information:
All Divisions:
story/poem title
division
word count
author name
complete mailing address of author
email address of author
Youth Divisions: (in addition to the information above)
age of youth
birth date of youth
name of parent or guardian
email address of parent or guardian
name of school
city where school is located
Submission Deadline
Entries will be accepted from April 25, 2011 through May 25, 2011.
Entries should be emailed as attachments to writingcontest@geekpartnership.org.
All entries are due by 11:59 pm CDT on May 25, 2011.
Prizes
The winner of each Youth Division will receive a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate, with a second $50 gift certificate being awarded to the winner's school.
The Poetry Division winner will receive a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate.
The general winner of the Open Division will receive a $75 Amazon.com gift certificate. The Scott Imes Award Winner will receive a $100 gift certificate from Uncle Hugo's.
Judging
Two or more qualified writers or editors will evaluate each submission. All works will be pre-screened to ensure they meet the rules and submission format stated above. The judges will NOT read any entries that do not meet the requirements.
Questions
If you have questions, please contact Jodie Gustafson, Writing Contest Coordinator, at writingcontest@geekpartnership.org.
