CATHERINE DOCTOROW
INNOVATIVE FICTION PRIZE
Sponsored by FC2
2010 Winner Announced
Fiction Collective Two is pleased to announce Joanna Ruocco has won the second annual FC2 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize for Another Governess/The Least Blacksmith-A Diptych. The prize includes publication by FC2 and $15,000. The judge was Ben Marcus.
The 2011 Contest will be open from August 15 - November 1.
Eligibility
The FC2 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize is open to any U.S. writer in English with at least three books of fiction published. Submissions may include a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a novel of any length. There is no length requirement. Works that have previously appeared in magazines or in anthologies may be included. Translations and previously published or self-published novels and collections are not eligible. To avoid conflict of interest, former or current students or close friends of the final judge for 2011, Percival Everett, are ineligible to enter the contest. Employees of FC2 and FC2 authors are not eligible to enter.
Judges
Finalists for the Prize will be chosen by the following members of the FC2 Board of Directors: Kate Bernheimer, Jeffrey DeShell, Noy Holland, Lance Olsen, Matt Roberson, Elisabeth Sheffield, Susan Steinberg, and Lidia Yuknavitch.
The winning manuscript in 2011 will be chosen from the finalists by Percival Everett, who will write the foreword to the winning manuscript.
Selection criteria will be consistent with FC2’s stated mission to publish "fiction considered by America’s largest publishers too challenging, innovative, or heterodox for the commercial milieu," including works of "high quality and exceptional ambition whose styles, subject matter, or forms push the limits of American publishing and reshape our literary culture.”
For contest updates and full information on FC2’s mission, history, aesthetic commitments, authors, events, and books, please visit the website at: http://fc2.org.
Deadlines
Contest entries will be accepted beginning 15 August. All entries must be submitted no later than 1 November. The winner will be announced in May 2012.
Prize
The Prize includes $15,000 and publication by FC2, an imprint of the University of Alabama Press. In the unlikely event that no suitable manuscript is found among entries in a given year, FC2 reserves the right not to award a prize.
Guidelines
1) Submit a previously unpublished manuscript of any length through our electronic submissions manager. Electronic submissions only.
2) The manuscript must be anonymous. The author’s name or address must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. The title page should contain the title of the manuscript only. Pages should be numbered consecutively. Files should be uploaded as a MS Word document or PDF.
3) Please include a cover letter/biography with your name, contact information, and a list of three previously published works of fiction with ISBN’s and publishers in the space allotted on the submission form.
4) Include a $25 submission fee. Submission of more than one manuscript is permissible if each manuscript is submitted separately and accompanied by a $25 submission fee. Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but FC2 must be notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
CLMP Contest Ethics Code
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) provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved.
3) 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.