VWC Inside-the-Back-Cover Writing Contests for 2009

The Virginia Writers Club is sponsoring three Inside-the-Back-Cover writing contests in 2009. The winner of each contest (fiction, poetry, and personal essay) receives $40 and has his or her entry either printed on the inside of the back cover of a future VWC newsletter or included in the email newsletter.

The VWC has already held the flash fiction contest. The next one is poetry. I'm chairman of that one. The deadline has been extended to May 10 (which is a Sunday, so it's really May 9). Here are the general rules:

• Members of the Virginia Writers Club may enter the contest free, as a privilege of membership. Other writers residing in Virginia may enter for a fee of $8, with a check payable to the Virginia Writers Club submitted with the entry. A writer wishing to join the Virginia Writers Club and applying to become a member of the VWC by submitting an application along with a check for regular annual dues of $30, will not have to pay the $8 fee.
• Only one entry per writer per contest.
• Excluding titles, the maximum length for poetry is 30 lines.
• Entries must be the original work of the writer, not yet published or submitted for other contests or publishing.
• Entries must be typed or word processed (not handwritten) using 12 pt Times New Roman font. Poetry should be single-spaced on white 8 x 11-inch paper.
• A detachable cover sheet must include the title of the piece, the author’s name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. A short biographic sketch of no more than 75 words should be included on the cover sheet; the biographic sketch of the winner will be included with the winning entry on the inside back cover of the VWC newsletter.
• With the exception of the detachable cover sheet, the writer’s name must not appear on any other page of the submission, so that the judge will not know who the writer is.
• All rights will revert to the writer after the contest.
• Two hard copies of each entry, with one detachable cover sheet, must be mailed (postmarked) via USPS or other special surface delivery or hand delivered by the respective deadline to the respective coordinator listed below. No submissions will be accepted by e-mail.

Entries for the poetry contest should be snail-mailed (or hand-delivered) to me. If you go to the VWC website "Member News" page and click on the "document" link, you'll find the above rules as well as my mailing address.

Manuscripts will not be returned. Only the winner will be directly notified of the results of the contest, with notification in advance of publication of the winning entry on the inside back cover of the newsletter. The winner of each contest will be asked to send a copy of the winning entry and short bio via e-mail or CD to the newsletter editor so it can be placed in the newsletter without retyping.

If you have questions, e-mail Jim Morrison (ezwriter@att.net), president of the Valley Writers Chapter of the VWC.

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