The 2012 Debut Dagger competition will open on 22 October 2011 and close on 21 January 2012. The prize money is £700, plus two tickets to the CWA Awards and the entry fee for both postal and online entries is £25. To be notified of the opening and closing dates, and stay abreast of any developments or news, including the shortlist and the 2012 winner, please sign up for the free newsletter, using the form at the foot of this page.
A cheque, postal order, or international money coupon for £25
A self-addressed, stamped postcard if you wish us to acknowledge receipt
Please send your entry to the following PO Box.
Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger PO Box 273 Boreham Wood Hertfordshire WD6 2XA UK
Online Entry
You can now enter the competition online. To do so, please have ready the following:
The first 3000 words (or fewer) of your novel
A 500-1000 word synopsis of the rest of the novel
...both in the same computer file and with the line spacing set to double. We can accept entries in Microsoft Word Document (.doc or .docx) ; OpenDocument Text (.odt); Rich Text File (*.rtf); or Portable Document Format (.pdf - sometimes known as Adobe Acrobat).
Your credit or debit card to pay the entry fee of £25. If you do not live in the UK, your credit card company will handle the currency conversion.
Alternatively, if you have a PayPal account, you can pay us using that.
PayPal tell us the cardholder's name and address. We do not see any other card details, and you don't need to sign up for a PayPal account to use your card.
We will acknowledge receipt of your entry by email.
Please note the closing time and date of 23:59 on 21 January 2012 is UK time. If you are in a different time zone please make the appropriate adjustment, for example on the west coast of the USA (PST) the relevant time is 15:59 on 21 January.
If you already have a PayPal account please make sure that any associated credit card has not expired, particularly if you have not used the account for some time.
A bi-weekly series of articles covering the different stages of putting together an entry
Regular reminders of the approaching deadline
Full competition results
We will NOT send you any other promotional mailings, nor will we pass your e-mail address on to anyone else.
Important: we will send you an email including a link for you to click to activate your free subscription. Please look out for that email (just occasionally it goes into a spam box) and respond to it.
Winners to be selected by prize-winning writer Tahmima Anam.
Winning and shortlisted stories eligible for publication in an anthology.
Deadline: 31st January 2012.
NCLA is pleased to announce the 2012 International Students Short Story Competition. The competition aims to attract outstanding work which explores the experience of international students living and studying in the UK and to give students an opportunity to assess and translate their experience creatively.
The 1st International Student Short Story Competition was won by Ahnaf Abdul, a Malaysian studying Law at the University of Oxford, who received the £1000 cash prize. The second prize of £500 was won by Muhammad Idzwan Husaini of Newcastle University, while the third prize was shared by joint winners: Alan Islas Cital of the University of Birmingham and David Molloy of the University of East Anglia. The winning and shortlisted stories have been published in an anthology titled Crossing the Lines: New Writing by International Students (Flambard 2011).
International (including EU) students can enter for the International Student Short Story Competition, providing they are studying at a UK university, or have graduated within the past two years. Entrants can write about any aspect of their experience of studying abroad, such as the challenges of adapting to life in a different climate and culture, the ups and downs of ‘international living’, culture clashes, coping with food/cuisine in a new country, homesickness, love (or the lack of it), social lives, job hunts and struggles to make ends meet, or any other aspect of their experience of living and studying abroad.
The winning stories and a shortlisted selection will be eligible for publication in an anthology exploring the UK international student experience.
Copies of Crossing the Lines: New Writing by International Students can be obtained from Inpress: http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/i022312.aspx, and through other reputable book stores.
Be the first to know; keep up to date with the competition news by following the competition on Facebook.
The Judge
Tahmima Anam was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her first novel, A Golden Age, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Costa First Novel Prize, and was the winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. Her second novel, The Good Muslim, was published in hardcover by Canongate in May 2011. Her writing has been published in Granta, The New York Times, and the Guardian. She lives in London.
Director/producers Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry of 'Dark Girls Documentary' pose during the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival at the Guess Portrait Studio on September 13, 2011 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Matt Carr/Getty Images)
"Why are we bringing our dirty laundry out in public? Because it's stinking up the house!" These are the words of Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry, co-directors and co-producers of Dark Girls, a new documentary which explores the deeply rooted bias and low self-esteem that, according to the film, dark-skinned women of all ages experience. The poignant, raw, no holds barred interviews featured in the film open a dialogue on this shameful phenomenon.
Duke, who is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Tribute from the Director's Guild of America, has helmed films such as A Rage in Harlem and Deep Cover, and acted in everything from American Gigolo to X-Men: The Last Stand, opened up to theGrio about his latest film.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR 'DARK GIRLS' HERE:
theGrio: This is a thoughtful and powerful, and surely controversial documentary. What inspired you to make it, and why at this particular point in time?
Bill Duke: It came out of an idea I had based upon my childhood, what I'd gone through and seen, and what I'd seen people that I loved go through, like my sister, my niece, and other children in my family, and in my life, and I wanted to really give a voice to the voiceless. I brought the idea to Channsin Berry, my co-executive producer and director. We'd tried to get some investment dollars and we couldn't find them, so we invested our own money -- which is not painless. And why now? Colorism is unfortunately still an issue today. Dark skin is considered less than light skin in the in the minds of many in our community and in the media. We thought that finally it should be addressed, to give a voice to the voiceless.
What you two most painfully brought to light, in my mind, was the ignorance of our younger generation. The 5-year-old who identifies the darkest doll as stupid and ugly, and the young man who says he wouldn't date a woman with dark skin because, he says "they look funny beside me." What's going on here?
Isn't it amazing though? There's a rapper, I've forgotten his name, he just did a video recently and on the call sheet for auditions, he literally stated "no dark-skinned women need apply." Isn't that something?
It's frightening. Why do you think that this is still happening?
Well, I think that there are a lot of reasons. I think from a quantum physics point of view, we are still in shock. It's PTSD syndrome, in terms of slavery, and all the things we went through. I also think that media commits the sin of omission and co-mission. Co-mission is when I actually say "you're a fool," you know, you've got your pants below your butt crack, and you're disrespecting our women.
Or, I don't know if you saw it recently, but the situation with the new Michael Jordan shoe, where we trampled each other for a $180 pair of sneakers. One of the kids came out and licked the shoe. Did you see that? He licked the shoe, tasted it, and said "I've arrived!" Ok, that's the sin of co-mission. If you look at YouTube, there's a 29-year-old black man with 21 children from 11 different women. That's on YouTube, going around the world. What kind of message is that?
The sin of omission is whenever there is anything holistic, heroic, or positive, we're simply not there. So a child who is watching that looks at TV, at films, or at magazine, and if there is something beautiful and she's not there, then her assumption is that she is not involved in anything that is beautiful, or confirming in anyway, or positive
Now we have a black man as the leader of the free world, and an intelligent, beautiful, and dark-skinned first lady. This is mentioned as point of pride in your film. I've got to believe that this will help black women all over the world feel more beautiful and empowered. What do you think?
Well, our hope is that this film will create dialogue. A lot people in our community will say (laughs), "Why are you bringing our dirty laundry into the public eye?" My answer is because it's stinking up the house! You know? And the thing is, if you don't air it out, people will keep it in all of their lives. They never talk about it; they never discuss it, so there can't be healing until there is dialogue. Our hope is that, yes, there is some healing factor in this, that people start talking about it, whether they agree with the film or not, at least it creates conversation, and I think that's healing.
Your documentary also addressed the worldwide multi-million dollar skin bleach phenomenon. This is a global sickness. When did you decide to look at this bigger picture?
Well, it took some two and a half years to do the research. We discovered that the skin bleaching creams are a 40 billion dollar business. Imagine that. It's people trying to be something that they are not. It's an issue of self-esteem and the ironic thing for me is that as black women are putting in hair extensions and weaves, and bleaching their skin and all these things to look whiter, the white women are plumping up their lips, risking skin cancer in tanning salons, putting in butt lifts, and crimping up their hair to look more ethnic. Don't you find that highly ironic?
Absolutely. Especially considering that historically everyone wants to identify with whoever is in power. It's turning the tables. We would so like to think that the perception of darker-skinned women changed over the years, but watching the film, I'm not so sure. Has it changed?
I don't think it has, I actually think it's worse. I think the media and the Internet and all that stuff, has created this perception of black women as these mammy types, kind of angry, you know, full of pent up emotions and resentments. And that these women are people to feared rather than loved. If find it to be ironic, because black women are some of the kindest, most caring people on the planet, but no one puts that image out there. No one is going to say this, so what I guess [D. Channsin Berry] and I are doing, with whatever limited resources we have, is to put the message out there. We need as much help as we can get, and we thank people like you for helping us get it out there. There is no one coming to save us; no one cares.
What were your biggest surprises while making this documentary? Was there anything unexpected?
Yes. The level of passion and level of pain was pretty intense to deal with because much of it came from very intelligent, professional, and successful black women; beautiful black women. They never talked about their journey to anybody, ever.
I'll tell you a story that was one of the most painful for us. We were in Poughkeepsie, New York. We interviewed a lady in her late thirties, early forties. We couldn't use the footage because there were technical problems, but we asked her what the most painful thing was in her journey. She said, "oh, that's easy. I've never ridden in the passenger seat of a man's car," and we said, "well, what does that mean?" She responded, "until the last 10 years, I've never had any self-esteem. I'm very dark and whenever I had a boyfriend, I'd either go to his house or he'd come to mine. And when we would go out, I'd act as his secretary or his assistant and drive him around. I've never been in the passenger seat of a man's car." When she said that, the whole crew just stopped. You know, you're not quite sure how to respond to that.
Your next documentary, Yellow Brick Road, will focus on the challenges that lighter-skinned women face. Give us a taste of what we should expect.
As we do the historical research, the women who are, as they say, high yellow women who are supposed to be privileged and closer to white, are the result of "massa" raping their mammas...
Well, originally yes... for sure.
Yeah, so that whole thing of privilege, oh, they were in the house, but "massa" was raping their mammas in the house, and keeping them close, of course! But as we get into this, they had as many horror stories as dark-skinned women. I mean, being chased through the school yard because it's assumed that they think that they are, the word is hoity toity, they think they're better. Some of them had their hair pulled, they've been beaten in bathrooms, and had their teeth knocked out because the assumption is, "You think you're better than us? We'll show you!" Our ignorance limitless.
It sounds like there is no winning. You can't be too dark, or too light! But we are doing this to ourselves. The woman who wouldn't sit in the passenger seat? No one was really stopping her from sitting there, she was stopping herself, and that comes from low self-esteem. That comes from parents not giving their children a sense of pride -- it needs to start at home, by telling your kids that they are beautiful.
Every day. Because they are getting the opposite message from everyplace else and we have to tell them every day that they are beautiful.
Where can people see Dark Girls?
There are several screening coming up and packing houses, like we did this past weekend at the Apollo. We hope to get a theatrical release, but in the meantime, we are thankful and grateful that people are supporting us. They know that there's message here.
Mosquita y Mari—the film about the tender love between two Chicana teenagers growing up in Huntington Park, one of the most vibrant immigrant Latino communities in Los Angeles—now has an official trailer.
The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this Saturday. There are five screenings of the film and only one them has tickets available online—so get your tickets ASAP.
Last week George Lucas made waves when he took to The Daily Show to explain why it took 23 years to make the upcoming film Red Tails about the Tuskegee Airmen. According to Lucas, only one thing stood in the way of the historical action flick reaching movie screens: money.
Lucas spoke candidly about the difficulty of getting a film with an all-black cast to garner the backing of major studios and even larger budgets. Apparently studios don’t think films with black casts are commercially viable here or abroad, and therefore don’t invest big bucks in making them.
Today, Tyler Perry took to his website to talk about his own difficulty making films despite posting respectable box office numbers.Perry ratcheted up the rhetoric a bit more and argued that films with black casts are “on the verge of becoming extinct.”
Why? Well, read Perry’s letter to find out.
Unfortunately, movies starring an all African American cast are on the verge of becoming extinct. THAT’S RIGHT, EXTINCT! Ask any executive at a Hollywood Studio why, and most of them will tell you one of two things. The first thing they’ll say is that DVD sales have become very soft, so it’s hard for a movie with an all black cast to break-even. Secondly they’ll say, most movies are now dependent on foreign sales to be successful and most “black” movies don’t sell well in foreign markets. So what that means is you will begin to see less and less films that star an all black cast. Isn’t that sad in a 2012 America? Somewhere along the way we still haven’t realized that we are more alike then not.
I must tell you that I have been very fortunate to work with a studio that sees the value in my type of storytelling and filmmaking. As well as having you, an audience of all races of people, who have stood by me arm and arm. It has helped me navigate through some pretty rough waters.
I thought that as black people in Hollywood, this is just our reality, but I quickly realized that this is not racism. What made me realize this is I had a conversation with Mr. Star Wars himself, George Lucas, and he was telling me that he was having the same problem with Red Tails. I was blown away! Red Tails is an important story about, not just black history, but American history about the Tuskegee Airmen. It has an all-star African American cast, including Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard, which opens this Friday. He went on to say that he brought the movie idea of Red Tails to
several studios and no one wanted to make this film…. AND THIS IS GEORGE LUCAS! Not to be deterred, he put up his own money, shot the movie then took it back to those same studios, and they wanted nothing to do with it. One of them even refused to see the film, citing the above mentioned problems. So George decided to take a huge risk by entirely funding the movie and releasing it himself. What a guy! For him to believe so strongly in this story is amazing. I think we should pull together and get behind this movie. I really do! Not just African Americans, but all of us. I have seen the movie and screened it here in Atlanta. I loved it and I think you will too. The Tuskegee Airmen, who were at the screening, were so happy that somebody is telling a small part of their story.
It opens this Friday. Please take your kids, you will enjoy it and so will they. There is a lot of action and adventure and also a great history lesson to be learned.
George, I just want to say, thank you for having the courage to do this.
What do you think of Tyler Perry’s Letter on the state of Black films?
Scott Douglas, activist and executive director of the Greater Birmingham Ministries, was a guest on The Colbert Report on Monday and discussed Alabama’s tough anti-immigration law in context of the civil rights movement.
Many people told Douglas he was brave before going on the show but he did so anyway because he wanted to get his message across: “We don’t need 50 immigration laws across America, we need one comprehensive law that’s just and fair for everyone.”
Douglas told the Birmingham News that people gave him a lot of advice, and the best he said was to remember that Colbert “is the comedian, not me.”
Even when Colbert tried to derail him, Douglas did an amazing job and kept to his talking points, he delivered meaningful context and more impressively he managed to slip two MLK quotes in to the 5-minute interview.
DVD 83 minutes, 2002, Producers/Directors: Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer Executive Producer: Sam Pollard An online FACILITATOR GUIDE is available for this title.
ABOUT THE FILM
Winner! 2004 American Library Association Notable Video Award Winner! 2003 Cine Golden Eagle
He was there at most of the important events of the Civil Rights Movement - but always in the background. Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin asks "Why?" It presents a vivid drama, intermingling the personal and the political, about one of the most enigmatic figures in 20th-century American history. One of the first "freedom riders," an adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Philip Randolph, organizer of the march on Washington, intelligent, gregarious and charismatic, Bayard Rustin was denied his place in the limelight for one reason - he was gay.
Rustin was born in 1912 into a Pennsylvania Quaker family steeped in ideas of social justice and non-violence. He moved to Harlem during the socially and culturally tumultuous 1930s and, after a brief flirtation with the Communist Party found a more congenial home in A.J. Muste's pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. While there, he served prison terms for resisting the draft during World War II and later for integrating interstate buses. When A. Philip Randolph, aging head of the Black labor movement, turned to the fellowship for tactical help, Rustin worked closely with him and developed a belief that the labor movement offered the best hope for Black advancement.
Then in 1953, Rustin was arrested during a casual homosexual encounter. A.J. Muste forced him out of the fellowship. When the Montgomery bus boycott was launched, he went to Alabama in 1956 and became a mentor in non-violence to the 26-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though Rustin would advise the younger civil rights leader until his assassination in 1968, King broke publicly with Rustin in 1960, when Representative Adam Clayton Powell threatened King over the issue of Rustin's homosexuality.
But when the 1963 march on Washington was proposed, the civil rights leadership recognized there was only one man who could organize it - Bayard Rustin. After the march's overwhelming success Rustin forged the fragile alliance between the labor unions, the Civil Rights Movement and the Democratic Party which was responsible for much of the landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960's.
Later on, Rustin angered former colleagues by not speaking out against the war in Vietnam, and by taking controversial stands against Black Nationalism and affirmative action. In the 1970s and 1980s, he returned to his early interest in international affairs and human rights, working on behalf of refugees around the world. Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin contributes a fascinating new chapter to our understanding of both progressive movements and gay life in 20th-century America.
Produced in associated with the Independent Television Service (ITVS)
The 2012 CutBank Chapbook Competition will soon be open! We welcome poetry and prose manuscripts of 25-40 pages.
Deadline January 1 – March 31, 2012
Award Publication, $1000 cash prize, and 25 contributor copies
Eligibility This competition is open to original English language manuscripts in the genres of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. While previously published stand-alone pieces or excerpts may be included in a manuscript, the manuscript as a whole must be an unpublished work. Translations and previously self-published collections are ineligible. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable; please note that reading fees are non-refundable, and you must withdraw the manuscript immediately via Submishmash if it is accepted elsewhere. Please do not include cover artwork with your submission; black and white illustrations are acceptable so long as you’ve obtained the rights. The author must not have a close personal or professional relationship with any current or previous CutBank staff members.
Reading Fee $17. Includes consideration and a copy of CutBank 77 upon its release in summer 2012. (International applicants must send an addition $5 to receive a copy of the issue)
What We’re Looking For Startling, compelling, and beautiful original work. We’re looking for a fresh, powerful manuscript. Maybe it will overtake us quietly; gracefully defy genres; satisfyingly subvert our expectations; punch us in the mouth page in and page out. We’re interested in both prose and poetry – and particularly work that straddles the lines between genres. Manuscripts should be cohesive and coherent; in other words, your manuscript should resonate and make sense as a book.
Guidelines for Electronic Submissions Submissions are accepted exclusively through our online submissions manager, Submishmash. Entries must be received no later than March 31, 2012. Please submit 25 to 40 pages of typed poetry or prose in either DOC/DOCX/RTF/PDF format. For poetry and short prose, please include no more than one piece per page. Images are acceptable, but only in black and white; you must obtain reprint rights for any included images. Include page numbers, table of contents, and, if applicable, an acknowledgments page addressing where sections have been previous published. Submissions should include two cover pages as the first two pages of the document: one with the manuscript’s title, the other with the title, author’s name, address, and e-mail address. The author’s name should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript. Results will be announced via e-mail and posted at www.cutbankonline.com in late May 2012.
The Long and Short of It The CutBank Chapbook Contest honors a book of original poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction by a single author; translations are not eligible for this award. The winning author receives a $1000 honorarium plus 25 copies of the published book. The winner will be announced by CutBank, the winning book will be featured on the CutBank website, and we’ll do our best to distribute it to regional independent bookstores. The contest will be judged by the CutBank editorial staff. Entries must be submitted between January 1 and March 31, 2011. All entries must be made through our submission manager. Manuscripts should be 25-40 pages in length of poetry (a cohesive poetry manuscript), fiction (either a short fiction collection or novella), or creative nonfiction (one long essay or a short collection of essays). Please indicate in the acknowledgements if any sections of the manuscript have been previously published, and where; the manuscript as a whole must be an unpublished work. Manuscript revisions are not permitted during the contest. Multiple entries are fine as long as each is accompanied by a submission fee (in which case you will receive an additional copy of CutBank). The author must not have a close personal or professional relationship with any current or previous CutBank staff members.
The CLMP Code of Ethics: CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines — defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
It is truly an honor to read your work. We wish you the best of luck!
2012 Montana Prize in Fiction, Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry
Submissions for all contests are accepted December 1, 2011 through Feb 29, 2012. Winners receive $500 and publication in CutBank 77. All submissions will be considered for publication in CutBank. The contests’ $17 entry fee includes a one-year, two-issue subscription to CutBank, beginning with the prize issue, CutBank 77.
Please send only your best work. With all three of these awards, we are seeking to highlight work that showcases an authentic voice, a boldness of form, and a rejection of functional fixedness. For more information, guidelines, and to apply, click here.
Montana Prize in Fiction Judge – Benjamin Percy
Benjamin Percy is the author of two novels, Red Moon (forthcoming from Grand Central/Hachette in 2012) and The Wilding, as well as two books of stories, Refresh, Refresh and The Language of Elk. His fiction and nonfiction have been published by Esquire, GQ, Men’s Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, and the Paris Review. His honors inlcude a fellowship from the NEA, the Whiting Writers’ Award, the Plimpton Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.
Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction Judge – Eula Biss
Eula Biss holds a BA in nonfiction writing from Hampshire College and an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. Her second book, Notes from No Man’s Land, received the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. Her work has also been recognized by a Pushcart Prize, a Jaffe Writers’ Award, and a 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library. She teaches writing at Northwestern University and is working on a new book about myth and metaphor in medicine with the support of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Howard Foundation Fellowship. Her essays have recently appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Best Creative Nonfiction and the Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Nonfiction as well as in The Believer, Gulf Coast, Columbia, Ninth Letter, the North American Review, the Bellingham Review, the Seneca Review, and Harper’s.
Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry Judge – Bhanu Kapil
Bhanu Kapil lives in Colorado where she teaches writing and thinking at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, as well as Goddard College’s low-residency MFA. She has written four full-length cross-genre works–The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers (Kelsey Street Press, 2001), Incubation: a space for monsters (Leon Works, 2006), humanimal [a project for future children] (Kelsey Street Press, 2009), and Schizophrene (forthcoming, Nightboat Books).
Big Fish Online Contest: Flash Fiction and Prose Poetry
open October 1 – November 1
A prize of $200 and online publication will be given for the best piece of writing under 500 words that we receive. Flash fiction, short-shorts, micro-prose, prose poems, poetic prose, just plain short stories–whatever you call your briefest prose pieces, send them our way. The contest winner will be chosen by the CutBank editorial staff and announced on our website on December 1. All submissions will be considered for both online publication and print publication in CutBank. Submissions must be accompanied by a $9 submission fee.
Tahmima Anam was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her first novel, A Golden Age, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Costa First Novel Prize, and was the winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. Her second novel, The Good Muslim, was published in hardcover by Canongate in May 2011. Her writing has been published in Granta, The New York Times, and the Guardian. She lives in London. 
