(1st) STORIES FOR PEACE CONTEST Deadline Passed!
(Full Public Service Announcement)
MYTHOLOG, an online publication of short fiction and poetry ( www.mytholog.com ) is sponsoring a short fiction contest called Stories for Peace. We'd like to see a story that shows us the meaning of peace, or perhaps makes us want it a little more.
Short stories, flash fiction, and microflash are all acceptable for entry. Deadline for entries has passed (August 2nd, 2003). A winner will be announced by September 1st, 2003.
A winning story will be selected by the submissions team at MYTHOLOG. The winning entry is the judged to be the most poignant entry that somehow represents, demonstrates, 'comments upon', elucidates, or defines (through the elements of the story), peace. We aren't saying that it should be "pacifist" per se, or that the story must be considered "relevant", nor suggesting that entries be allegorical. We're leaving the criteria intentionally open-ended, so as to inspire, not restrict.
The winning story will receive a prize of $50 transmitted by paypal (paypal accounts are free at paypal.com and you may use it to deposit funds in your own bank account or to spend online). We'll work out the details of this transfer w. the winning entrant, so paypal membership is not necessary at the time of entry.
The prize-winning story will be published as the MYTHOLOG Stories for Peace winner in either a special or upcoming edition of MYTHOLOG.
RULES: All entries must be previously unpublished and are also submissions to MYTHOLOG for publication. Entrants are granting us first world/electronic publication rights to their entry or entries. Those stories which, at the discretion of the submissions committee, are judged runners up will be published in one of the 2003 editions of MYTHOLOG. Reprints, provided explicit credit to MYTHOLOG is given, are up to the author after 6 months from publication in MYTHOLOG.
Entries are submitted by email, and should be marked at the top as follows:
Stories for Peace Contest Entry
First World/Electronic Publication Rights
A single blank line should appear between paragraphs. No hard returns. Conclude the entry with the word END (all caps). Work should be spell-checked and reasonably self-edited. The work may be edited slightly by MYTHOLOG for publication. Indicate bold, underline, or italics by the following simple convention in your text: <I>some text</I>. In the event that bolding or underlining is deemed more appropriate than italics, we'll make that adjustment.
Entry/submission must be made in the body of a plain text (no HTML) email message. Attachments cannot be accepted (except for .txt submissions where the story is exceptionally lengthy). All submissions should be addressed to: contest@mytholog.com with the words "For Publication" in the subject line. One submitted item per email, please. Send it from the email address to which you expect a response and one that will be valid throughout the contest.
A quotation from our Guidelines: "We aren't hardwired to genre at all. We'll publish things that fall between the cracks and perhaps stick their claws up to horrify or tantalize us, literature on the mythskirts of a genre. We're interested in anything that is part of the modern mythos or part of the construction of myth, from the ancient and traditional to contemporary culture, whether it be dark, bright, erotic, mysterious, adventurous, dystopian, folkloric, or fantastic. We're interested in storytelling and theme. The thread of continuity for us is mythic development." Obviously, we've reached out to ask how peace is a part of that mythic thread.