Briarpatch is now accepting submissions of original, unpublished writing in the categories of short fiction and creative non-fiction for our 2nd annual creative writing contest. With award-winning writers Zoe Whittall and Carmen Aguirre as our judges and $750 in cash prizes to give away, this opportunity is not to be missed!
HOW TO ENTER
Briarpatch is seeking fresh, creative writing that bring to life issues of political, social and environmental justice. We want writing from the edges – from new writers who have something important to say, or from longtime writers who can show us a new way of seeing things. We want bold and courageous writing that pushes the boundaries between fact and fiction, between journalism and prose, and that deconstructs tough issues in inventive, original ways.
Submissions should not exceed 2500 words.
Entry fee:
Your $25 entry fee gets you a full year’s subscription to Briarpatch (regularly $28.95), which makes it hard to lose. This fee helps to cover the costs of organizing, promoting and administrating the contest, as well as the cash prizes.
U.S. submissions cost $40 and other international submissions cost $45 to cover the additional costs of postage for your subscription.
Deadline:
The deadline for entry is December 1, 2012. Any entries received after midnight Central Standard Time on this date will not be considered.
We will confirm receipt of your entry within three business days. Winners will be notified, and their names published on our website, in January.
Submission Details:
Please e-mail your entries to contest@briarpatchmagazine.com with the subject “Writing Contest.” The body of your e-mail should include the following information:
Author’s full name
E-mail address
Mailing address (for your subscription!)*
Phone number
Submission Title
Category (short fiction or creative non-fiction)
How you intend to pay (cheque, online, phone)
Please attach your submission as a Word or PDF document. Your submission should include the title of your work, but in order to ensure fairness and anonymity in judging, please do not indicate your name on the submission itself.
To pay your entry fee online with your credit card or PayPal account, click here:
Payment can also be made by cheque or cash (mailed separately with your name clearly identified), or over the phone with your credit card.
Please submit only one entry per person.
*If you are already receiving Briarpatch, please indicate whether you’d like us to renew your subscription for one year, or give this subscription as a gift (in which case we’ll need the address of your gift recipient).
In order to reach new subscribers, Briarpatch occasionally trades its mailing list with like-minded organizations. If you prefer not to be included in these trades, please indicate this in your e-mail.
Prizes:
Contest winners will be published in the May/June 2013 issue of Briarpatch and will each receive $300.
Honourable mentions will be featured online alongside contest winners at briarpatchmagazine.com and will each receive $75.
The top entry from Briarpatch‘s hometown of Regina will be treated to lunch with award-winning author Sandra Birdsell. The daughter of a Cree Metis father and a Mennonite mother, Sandra has authored three short story collections and six novels. She has won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Saskatchewan Book of the Year and Best Fiction Awards, and has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and the Giller Prize.
Each submission will also be entered in a draw to win a prize pack including Holding Still for As Long As Possible by Zoe Whittall and Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter by Carmen Aguirre, graciously donated by House of Anansi Press and D&M Publishers Inc.
Judging:
This year’s short story entries will be judged by acclaimed novelist and poet ZOE WHITTALL. She is the author of the Lambda award-winning Holding Still for as Long as Possible, and Bottle Rocket Hearts, which was named a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year and is among the CBC Canada Reads Top Ten Essential Novels of the Decade. Whitall is also the author of three volumes of poetry, and edited the short fiction anthology Geeks, Misfits & Outlaws.
Creative non-fiction entries will be judged by best-selling author, actor, and award-winning playright CARMEN AGUIRRE. Aguirre’s Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter, which chronicles her story as a young resistance fighter against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, won the 2012 CBC Canada Reads contest. Aguirre has also written and co-written twenty plays, including Chile Con Carne, The Trigger, and The Refugee Hotel, and has over sixty film, television, and stage acting credits. She is also a theatre director, acting teacher, and a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop facilitator.
Other details:
Entries must be original, unpublished and not submitted simultaneously to other publications or contests.
Entrants must agree to be bound to the contest rules. The decisions of our keen-eyed judges are final.
Winners may be requested to engage in a collaborative editing process with Briarpatch editors prior to publication.
