Academy of Motion Picture, Arts & Sciences (Oscars) Intl Fellowships (US)

The  Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting are now open.

This international screenwriting competition is open to writers based anywhere in the world, regardless of citizenship, and awards up to five fellowships of  US $35,000 each year.

The fellowships were established in 1986 to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters. Since then 128 fellowship and $3,425,000 has been awarded.

Deadline: In 2013, it is 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on May 1. The online application form will be shut down at that time.

Click HERE to read FAQs carefully.

ONLINE APPLICATION – Click HERE.

In addition to the cash prize, winners of the Nicholl Fellowships receive networking opportunities and professional mentoring to help complete their next script (it is a requirement that all fellowship winners complete a new script in the year of their fellowship).

In order to be eligible, applicants must submit an original feature film screenplay, approximately 90 to 120 pages in length (the shortest script to earn its writer an Academy Nicholl Fellowship was 85 pages long; the longest was 153 pages).

The fellowships are for emerging writers only – screenwriters who have earned more than US$25,000 for writing fiction work for television or film are not eligible to enter.

Nicholl Fellowships 2013 Timeline

  • January – entries open
  • 1 March – early bird entry deadline ($35 entry fee)
  • 10 April – regular entry deadline ($50 entry fee)
  • 1 May – late entry deadline ($65 late entry fee)
  • Late July / Early August – entrants notified by email as to whether their script as reached the quarter-final round. At this stage three selected industry professionals read the scripts, with three reads by three different judges for each script.
  • Late August – semi-finalists notified by email. At the semi-final stage, the scripts are read by Academy members. In 2012, 35 of the Academy member semi-final round judges had either won or been nominated for an Academy Award.
  • Late September / Early October – Finalists are notified and asked to submit supporting materials.
  • Late October – Fellowship recipients are notified and announced

 

Jingle Jangle TANGle Competition 2013 (Barbados)

The Jingle Jangle TANGle Competition is a songwriting/jingle writing competition sponsored by Armstrong Agencies and  organized by 104.1 Love FM radio in Barbados.  Entrants are to create AND sing lyrics for a 30 second jingle to the pre-recorded music found on LOVE FM’s website.

Prizes: BDS $250, $500 and $1,000

Highlights of Official rules:

1. Entrants must be legal residents of Barbados, 18 years and older

2. Preliminary judging will be done by members of the public calling in to specified Starcom radio station(s) to vote live. Final judging will be live before a panel of judges.

3. Participants can enter as many times as they wish.

4. Entrants must comply with Terms & Conditions available at LOVE FM 104.1 Facebook page, LOVE FM 104.1′s website and Armstrong Agency’s website.

ENTRY FEE: NONE EXCEPT PROOF OF PURCHASE OF TANG PRODUCT: Name and contact information on a plain slip of paper accompanied by (4) assorted sachets of Tang 30g b) original lyrics for a jingle to accompany pre-existing music.

Entries are to be dropped off in specifically marked boxes at Armstrong Agencies Ltd, Lower Estate or Starcom Network.

Deadline: March 1st 2013.

Competition runs February 6th-March 24th, 2013.

Copyright: NB. All entries become the property of Armstrong Agencies.

1. Entrants must be legal residents of Barbados, 18 years and older

2. You can enter as many times as you wish

FULL Official rules are found HERE.

International Flash Fiction Competition “Museum of Words” (Spain)

As one of the objectives of the César Egido Serrano Foundation is to value the ability that dialogue and words has to unite peoples, the slogan of this contest edition will be “Words and freedom”.

Submission Guideline Highlights

  1. The III Edition of International Award for “Museum of Words” Micro fiction is summoned.
  2. They may participate as many writers of any country in the world wish to do so.
  3. The originals whose theme will be free (two per author, maximum) will be written in any of the following languages: Hebrew, English, Arabic, or Spanish.
  4. An absolute of $20,000 prize money for the best flash fiction is set to any language authorized in the contest.
  5. $ 1,000 will be awarded to three runners up for the best stories from the languages supported in the competition.
  6. The Flash Fictions may not exceed the 100 words.
  7. The work MUST be unpublished including electronically.

Deadline: November 23rd, 2012 GMT+1, on the International Day of Words

Entries must be submitted online HERE.  You can also find FULL submission guidelines there.

César Egido Serrano Foundation

Calle Maldonado, 65. stair B, 1º left – 28006 Madrid (Spain)

 Phone: 91 5635947

 Email: info[at]museodelapalabra.com

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Sourced by: Shakirah Bourne of getWrite!

2013 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (UK)

The Commonwealth Writers Prize  is one of the most prestigious international writing competitions for prose, co-ordinated  by the Commonwealth Foundation and the official opening date for entries is October 24th 2012 (You can also get reminders by following them on Facebook.)

The inserted video features winners of the 2012 Regional Commonwealth Writers’ prize.  Congrats to all but especially Caribbean regional winner Alecia McKenzie of Jamaica, who had her book published with Peepal Tree Press, UK.

The prizes target and identify talented writers from different regions of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Book Prize (CBP) is awarded for the best first book, and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (CSSP) for the best piece of unpublished short fiction.

For each prize we award four regional winners and one overall winner. The regions are Africa; Asia; Canada & Europe; Caribbean; and the Pacific.

The prizes are open to Commonwealth citizens aged 18 or over.

Opening date: The 2013 prizes will open for entry via the online entry form on 24 October 2012.

Book Deadline: Online entry forms must be submitted by Tuesday 18 December 2012 (12 noon GMT). Books must be received by the Prize Administrator no later than Wednesday 2 January 2013 (5pm GMT)

Short Story Deadline: Entries must be submitted via the online entry form by Tuesday 4 December 2012 (12 noon GMT) No entries will be considered if submitted after 4 December 2012 (12 noon GMT).

Rule Highlights

NO ENTRY FEE!

Book Prize Rules:  The book must have been first published between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2012. Books published in earlier years, including books which have previously been published in countries other than the country of the current publisher, are not eligible.  Read ALL the rules carefully at the website.

BOOK PRIZE ONLINE ENTRY FORM HERE!

Short Story Rules: The story must be original and should not have been previously published anywhere in full or in part. Published work is taken to mean published in any printed, publicly accessible form, e.g. anthology, magazine, newspaper. It is also taken to mean published online, with the exception of personal blogs and personal websites.  Again, read ALL the rules carefully on the short story page at the website.

SHORT STORY PRIZE ONLINE ENTRY FORM HERE!

Prizes

  • SHORT STORY PRIZE: There will be five winners, one from each region. One regional winner will be selected as the overall winner. The overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will receive £5,000 and the remaining four regional winners £1,000. If the winning short story is a translation into English, the overall winner will receive £3,750 and translator will receive £1,250; and the regional winners will receive £750 and the translator will receive £250.
  • BOOK PRIZE: There will be five winners, one from each region. One of the regional winners will be selected as the overall winner. The overall winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize will receive £10,000 and the remaining four regional winners £2,500. If the winning book is a translation into English, the overall winner will receive £7,500 and translator will receive £2,500; and the regional winners will receive £1,875 and the translator will receive £625.

Address for Sending Books

After completing the online entry process, you must send two copies of each book to the prize organisers at the following address:

Prize Administrator, Commonwealth Writers
Commonwealth Foundation Marlborough House
Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HY United Kingdom

QUERIES? writers@commonwealth.int

You may be requested to send a further six copies in early January 2013.

Seawoman’s note: WELL worth your time!

Caribbean Short Story Competition 2011/2012 (Trinidad)

Caribbean Short Story Competition 2011/2012 is co-ordinated by Potbake Productions, a Caribbean publisher.  Author/Publisher Lyndon Baptiste effectively used humour and multi media to spread the word about the competition through the video in this post!

It’s their 2nd competition and the deadline has been extended to Saturday 31st August 2013. There will be a total of 10 finalists. The overall winner gets USD $ 250.00 and their story, along with 9 other winning stories, will be published as short story collection (likely in 2013-14 with the new extension):

  • Entrants must be citizens of the Caribbean.
  • Entrants must be greater than or equal to 13 years of age.
  • A maximum of 2 entries per entrant.
  • Finalists from the last competition set the bar high. Great, logical plots, clean, careful work, a variety of appropriately-used literary techniques. Do the same. You’re competing at a high level and want to stand out.
  • Stories must be a minimum of 2,500 words but no greater than 3,000 words. Other entries will not be considered.
  • Stories must be original works, having never been featured in any other publication, newspaper, magazine or otherwise.
  • Submissions must be in MS WORD or PDF format and must include the word count, author’s name and contact information
  • Entries submitted after deadline Saturday, 31st August 2013 will not be considered.
  • Entries can be sent via hard or soft copy
  • Email: submissions@potbake.com. Subject line must be: “CSSC.2011/2012″.
  • Hard copy submissions must be made to #3, 3rd Street West, Beaulieu Avenue, Trincity, Trinidad, West Indies.

Deadline: Saturday, 31st August 2013

Prizes

  •  The overall winner will receive a cash prize of USD $ 250.00. (Hopefully, we’ll be able to attract sponsorship, and the prizes will become more attractive. We’re working on it. :-)
  • The top 10 stories will be compiled in a book and each winner will receive a free copy.
  • An about the author page will be included in the publication for each of the 10 winners.
  • The authors will retain the copyright for their stories.
  • Potbake Productions will retain distribution rights for the top 10 stories.
  • There is no other monetary gain for the winning authors. There are no royalties to collect on sales.
  • However, winners can buy an unlimited copies of the book in which their story appears for cost price. This way, every individual can sell copies and make a profit.

Seawoman’s note: We let you know about the 1st RIGHT here! Yours truly with my short story “Big Rock Soup”, as the only finalist from Barbados, is proud to have been published in “Across The Caribbean: West Indian Short Stories”.

NIFCA 2012 Calendar (Barbados)

Imageal

National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) 2012 Calendar by the National Cultural Foundation of Barbados NCF). Go to their website for news and events of NIFCA 2012.

Look out for the activities in all the disciplines. (Click on the image to zoom in)

St. Somewhere Annual Literary Contest

St. Somewhere Journal, a premier Caribbean literary ezine,  has launched a new annual contest in June 2010, “to encourage and reward talented writers.”

There will be  three annual prizes to  contributors.  The Editor advises, “This is not a contest in the traditional manner practiced by many literary journals and magazines. There are no special entry guidelines or fees. Winners will be chosen from among the journal’s regularly selected contributors. “

Award winners will be decided in January of each year and all contributors from the preceeding year will be eligible for selection. The prizes are as follows:

Jack Mandora Prize for Fiction – $75.00 USD

Awarded to a single recipient in recognition of their prose fiction work. May be awarded on the merit of one or more short stories featured in St. Somewhere.

St. Somewhere Prize for Poetry – $50.00 USD

Awarded to a single recipient in recoginition of their poetic work. May be awarded on the merit of one or more poems featured in St. Somewhere.

Caribbean Spirit Award – $25.00 USD

Awarded to a single recipient in recognition of their effective use of Caribbean dialect or nation language, whether in fiction or poetry. May be awarded on the merit of one or more works of poetry and/or fiction featured in St. Somewhere.

All submissions should be sent via email to: editorAT stsomewherejournal.com

Read the SUBMISSIONS Guidelines carefully (opp also here at Seawoman) and Click on the PRIZES link at the top under the masthead.

Contact

Randy Baker
Editor
St. Somewhere Journal

**Seawoman’s 2 cents: I suggest you study past volumes of this Journal at the site to get a feel of the flavour and standard.  Well worth your time!

Caribbean Short Story Competition 2009/2010 (Trinidad)

Caribbean Short Story Competition 2009/2010 by Caribbean-based publisher Potbake Productions, is offering one overall winner US $ 250 and publication in their anthology for their unpublished short story. 16 other winners will also have their work published in a short story book collection in November 2010 along with a free copy.

Deadline: Tuesday, August 31st 2010

Submission Guidelines

  • Entrants must be citizens of the Caribbean. (Seawoman LIKES THIS!!)
  • Entrants must be greater than or equal to 13 years of age.
  • A maximum of 2 entries per entrant.
  • Stories must be a minimum of 2,500 words but no greater than 3,000 words. Other entries will not be considered.
  • Stories must be original works, having never been featured in any other publication, newspaper, magazine or otherwise.
  • Submissions must be in MS WORD or PDF format and must include the word count, author’s name and contact information
  • Entries submitted after Tuesday, 31st August 2010, will not be considered.
  • Entries can be sent via hard (see address below) or soft copy
    • Email: submissions@potbake.com. Subject line must be: “CSSC.2009/2010″.

Rights: The authors will retain the copyright for their stories. Potbake Productions will retain distribution rights for the top 17 stories

Full guidelines are HERE!

Contact:

Potbake Productions
#3, Third Street West
Beaulieu Avenue
Trincity
Trinidad
West Indies

Telephone: (868)640-3724
Mobile: (868)487-9115
Fax: (868)640-3724
Email: admin@potbake.com

OCEAN Magazine (US)

OCEAN WRITING/ PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

There is also a seasonal Writing Contest (next deadline JUNE 1st 2010) and Photography Contest.  Kindly note that a US$5.00 fee is applicable.

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OCEAN Magazine “publishes stories, articles, essays, and poems about the ocean –– scientific, creative, environmental, recreational, spiritual –– in keeping with its celebration and protection of our ocean.”   They accept work from international writers and photographers.  They have a print and digital format.

Guidelines are HERE! but it’s also useful to read the Your Comments & Questions Page.

Payment: The Editor says “OCEAN’s writers are paid according to their experience and their particular writing.”

Deadlines for OCEAN’s quarterly issues are:

January 15
April 15
July 15
October 15

You may send sample writings, or full text submissions.  Send writing submissions by EMAIL, preferably: diane@OceanMag.org

Please include the text in the body of the email. You may also attach a Word or pdf file of the text.  Along with the text, include your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number.

Or MAIL submissions to:

OCEAN
Writing Submissions
P.O. Box 84
Rodanthe, NC 27968, USA

Other Contact Info

Diane Buccheri
Publishe
r

Email: diane@OceanMagazine.org

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SOURCE: Writing For Dollars

Smories.com (US)

Smories.com is a place for children’s story writers (published and unpublished, professional & amateur) to get their work published online, whilst retaining all rights.

If you have an unpublished children’s story, you can submit it below.  They are offering US$1,500 worth of prize money for the 5 best stories submitted each month.  The current competition closes 31 May 2010.

You can submit from anywhere in the world. Submission is free.

PRIZES
First Prize: US$500
Second Prize: US$400
Third Prize: US$300
Fourth Prize: US$200
Fifth Prize: US$100

If you are a winner outside the US, the prize money will be converted into your local currency.

50 SHORTLISTED, 5 WILL WIN

A shortlist of the 50 stories we like best will be announced on 05 June.   These 50 stories will then get narrated by kids, which we film.
The 50 films will then appear on smories.com on 01 July. Copyright in submitted stories remains with the writer.  Smories.com has no claim whatsoever on any submitted or read content.

Submission guidelines are HERE! FAQs and Key Dates are HERE!

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Source: Caribbean writer/blogger Summer Edwards

The Commonwealth Short Story Competition 2009 (United Kingdom)

The Commonwealth Short Story Competition is a prestigious, annual competition open to anyone who is a citizen of a Commonwealth country, whether an amateur or professional writer. There is no restriction on theme, but the stories must be new, original, and of no longer than 600 words (around four and a half minutes when read aloud).

Five regional winners are chosen, for Africa, Asia, Caribbean and Canada, Europe and the Pacific, of which one is then selected as the overall winner.

Each year 26  winning and highly commended stories from the different regions of the Commonwealth are recorded on to CDs and broadcast on radio stations across the Commonwealth.

The overall winner of the competition receives £2,000, regional winners £500 and each highly commended author £100.

Rights: “Winners will retain the copyright but assign the broadcasting rights (including audio on demand) to the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association to pass on to its members. Winners will also assign publication rights to the CBA and the Commonwealth Foundation, and the rights for the story to be sold on any audio medium by the CBA. Both these rights are non-exclusive. The winners will also assign rights to the CBA to use the story for press and promotion and for using on the website.”

Please note there is no entry form or fee for this competition.

DEADLINE: send by snail mail to the Commonwealth Foundation by 11 May 2009

Short Story Competition’ should be clearly written on the envelope, and on the subject line on emails.

More information is available from the Commonwealth Foundation’s website

**Seawoman’s 2 cents – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL

Commonwealth Short Story Competition
Commonwealth Broadcasting Association
17 Fleet Street
London EC4Y 1AA
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7583 5550
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7583 5549
Email: story@cba.org.uk
Website: www.cba.org.uk

Writers of the Future and Illustrators of the Future Contest (USA)

The Writers of the Future and Illustrators of the Future Contests are international in scope and short stories from the yearly winners selected from around the world are published in the annual Writers of the Future anthology.

Each anthology contains the best new science fiction and fantasy short stories from up-and-coming writers and every story is illustrated by budding new artists—all winners of the annual anthology.

Established in 1983 by L. Ron Hubbard expressly for the aspiring writer, Writers of the Future has become the most respected and significant forum for new talent in all aspects of speculative fiction.

THERE IS NO ENTRY FEE.

PRIZES: There shall be three cash prizes in each quarter:

a First Prize of $1,000, a Second Prize of $750, and a Third Prize of $500, in U.S. dollars or the recipient’s locally equivalent amount.

In addition, at the end of the year the four First Place winners will have their entries rejudged, and a Grand Prize winner shall be determined and receive an additional $5,000. All winners will also receive trophies or certificates.

ELIGIBILITY: The Contest is open only to international writers who have NOT had professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits.

The Contest has four quarters, beginning on October 1, January 1, April 1 and July 1. The year will end on September 30. To be eligible for judging in its quarter, an entry must be postmarked no later than midnight on the last day of the quarter.

Please review all of the rules carefully at the site.


SOURCE: Paying Writer Jobs

6TH Geneva Writers’ Conference (Switzerland)

The 6TH Geneva Writers’ Conference is to be held in Switzerland from
February 2-3, 2008. It will feature well-known authors, editors, literary
agents, and publishers from Britain, Denmark, France, Italy,
Switzerland, and the USA. The Conference is non-profit and made
possible through registration fees and the generous support of
sponsors. Registrations are now open.

Conference flyer: Click HERE!

For more information, visit the website.

Contact Susan Tiberghien
Tel. +41 (0)22 774 3835, susan.tiberghien@iprolink.ch

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (Ireland)

The  International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

DOES €100,000 SOUND ATTRACTIVE TO YOU?  

**NB. Nominations of novels must be made by National Libraries.  We in the Caribbean ARE ELIGIBLE! 

The prize is awarded annually to a novel of ”high literary merit” published in English, where  the original language is English or the work is translated into English,  published in the relevant time span for the year in question.

Nominations are submitted by invited libraries, representing major
cities around the world. We do not accept nominations directly from
authors, publishers or agents and canvassing in any manner renders a work  ineligible.
The winner of the 2008 award will be announced in June 2008. Invited
libraries have submitted their choices for the 2008 award. The closing
date was in May 2007.

Big Pond Rumour’s 3rd Issue Contest (Canadian ezine)

Big Pond Rumour Publishing

Big Pond Rumour Publishing is “dedicated to supporting quality in contemporary writing in three genres: poetry, story, and essay.”  It comes out twice annually-deadlines are June and December.  The ezine is free.

Publishing and cash prizes for this Contest.  Submissions from international writers be sent via email or snail mail.  See submission guidelines @ Website.