Beginning this fall, each year, Catharsis Journal will offer a contest of short memoir pieces. This year the topic is, How Creativity Changed My Life. As mentioned in the Submissions Guidelines, pieces are between 2,500 and 10,000 words. All submissions will be reviewed by Ellen LaFleche, Reader/Judge and Krista Burlae, Founding Editor. Pieces will be judged on how well developed the story is, use of literary device and element, if the content is tied to the theme, how creativity changed my life and if the writers makes us emote!
Prizes
First Place: $500, publication, listing of name, title of work, placement in contest (on website) and two free copies of book
Second Place: $250, publication, listing of name, title of work, placement in contest (on website) and two free copies of book
Third Place: $100, publication, listing of name, title of work, placement in contest (on website) and two free copies of book
Fourth-Tenth Place: publication, listing of name, title of work, placement in contest (on website) and two free copies of book
The deadline for submission to the contest is March 15, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. All submissions via USPS must be received (not post-marked) by March 15, 2013.
Entrants may submit up to three entries, but only one entry per envelope (or electronic submission) and each entry must include a $20 reading fee.
All submissions will be reviewed by May 1, 2013. Contest winners will be notified by May 15, 2013. The book featuring the top ten contest winners is expected be available in September of 2013.
Conflicts of Interest
Catharsis Journal does not accept submissions from employees (contract or otherwise) or their families due to possible bias. We discourage people affiliated with Catharsis Journal to submit pieces to the contest including friends or others who are personally or professionally involved with Catharsis Journal staff. Judges are likely to know the story from the relationship they have with someone outside of contest contexts. Therefore, if one of our judges knows an entrant, we pass the piece along to a judge who does not know the entrant for the entire review of the piece. However, we hope most people close to the judges understand the natural bias and choose to submit work elsewhere.
If an entrant’s work has been sent to another publication (which we request entrants do not do) and is slated for publication by March of 2013, please inform us IMMEDIATELY. Such work is ineligible for the contest.
Submission guidelines to our annual CONTEST. Please follow the guidelines closely.
TOPIC: How creativity changed my life!
1. Only send us unpublished pieces. Because memoir can do many things later, we reserve the right to publish your work first and without concern for dual publication. If your work is chosen as a contest winner, your rights and responsibilities as an author will be clearly outlined in your contract. No simultaneous submissions. Please send your piece to us and us only. We have a distribution of over 25,000 venues so we want to get your work seen as much as you do.
2. Your piece is between 2,500 and 10,000 words, is in 12 point font and is double-spaced. Memoir is typically written in the past tense, unlike essay which is written in the present.
3. The content of your piece is of a spiritual, metaphysical or miraculous nature. This is not to say that you experience a neon sign from your higher power, but more so, that you notice the miracles in your life on a day to day basis. Your story can be about transformation, cathartic experiences, serendipity or some related topic.
4. For our 2013 contest on How Creativity Changed My Life, our reading period is from October 1st to March 15th, 2013.
5. If your piece is from a larger, completed unpublished manuscript, please let us know and let us know the title of your manuscript. We will acknowledge it if your work is chosen for Catharsis Journal’s 2013 contest.
6. You may send us an electronic copy or hard copy. If you send us a hard copy, do so at:
Catharsis Journal
PO Box 24408
Santa Fe, NM 87502
You can make your check payable to Catharsis Journal. We will not be able to return your manuscript.
7. If you send us your work in electronic form, please follow the instructions on the “Contest Submission Page” under “Writing Contest”.
8. We may not be able to acknowledge your submission by email or USPS. If this is the case, please know that we personally know the value of your attempt and the courage it takes to submit a story, especially about our topics. We want you to remain inspired.
9. Please offer us a title page without your name on it, just the title. This is the first page of the manuscript you send us. Please do not put your name on any page of the mss. until the last page.
10. On the last page of your manuscript, please offer the following information:
a. The title of your manuscript.
b. Your name as you wish it to appear should we publish your work.
c. Your telephone number and email address.
d. Your home or business address (we will only offer the city and state in which you live should we choose your work for publication).