Sixteenth Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards

Win $3,000 in cash

Gain national exposure for your book

Catch the attention of prospective editors and publishers

Writer's Digest is searching for the best self-published books of the past few years. Whether you're a professional writer, part-time freelancer, or a self-starting student, here's your chance to enter the only competition exclusively for self-published books.

THE CATEGORIES:

• Mainstream/Literary Fiction
• Genre Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Inspirational (Spiritual, New Age)
• Life Stories (Biographies, Autobiographies, Family Histories, Memoirs)
• Children's Picture books
• Middle-Grade/Young Adult books
• Reference Books (Directories, Encyclopedias, Guide Books)
• Poetry

ENTRY DEADLINE: May 1, 2008

For more information on this and other contests, click here.

Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction Contest

Leslie Wheeler reminds us that The Al Blanchard Short Crime Fiction Contest of 2008 is seeking short story submissions. The award, given in memory of Al Blanchard, NWU activist and prominent member of the Boston-area mystery writing community, consists of:

• $100 cash award
• Publication in Level Best Books' sixth Crime Fiction anthology
• Admission to the Crime Bake Conference

The story must be:

• A crime story by a New England author or with a New England setting, and may include the following genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, caper, horror (no torture or killing of children or animals)
• Previously unpublished (in print or electronically)
• Not more than 5,000 words in length.

The deadline is April 30, and there is no entry fee. For instructions on how to submit, visit the Crime Bake website.

Back to top

$5,000 Scholarships to Working Journalists for College Courses in Religion

The scholarships can be used at any accredited college, university, seminary or similar institution. Journalists can take any course they choose as long as it is in the field of religion.

Journalists previously awarded scholarships have taken courses covering a wide variety of courses including Islamic Movements, Church History, Religion and Violence, Japanese Buddhism, Evangelism and many more.

"This scholarship turned me from curious to informed. Before my class, I saw church history as interesting but not essential to religion editing. I've changed my mind," said Matthew Strozier, a reporter with The Stamford Advocate.

Deadlines for scholarship applications are quarterly: January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1. Each quarter's applications are reviewed by a committee of award-winning journalists.

Scholarships must be used within three academic quarters of their award date and only fulltime journalists working in the general circulation news media are eligible.

All journalists (including reporters, editors, designers, copy editors, editorial writers, news directors, researchers and producers) are eligible, regardless of whether they cover religion.

Religion Newswriters Association is the world's only journalism association for people who write about religion in the mainstream news media. The scholarships are offered through its non-profit arm, the Religion Newswriters Foundation, with generous funding from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Complete information about the Lilly Scholarships in Religion is available at www.rna.org. For questions, call Amy Schiska at 614-891-9001 ext. 3.

Back to top

E-Drum - Get news of calls for submissions

E-Drum is a listserv which describes its content as "information of interest to black writers and diverse supporters worldwide." It announces several calls for submissions every week in a wide variety of areas - open, of course, to all writers. Most require nominal entry fees.

To read the announcements and sign up if you wish, go to lists.topica.com/lists/e-drum. You don't have to subscribe to the list in order to read the announcements.

Back to top

Send us calls for submissions!

In selecting items for the column, we seek out opportunities in a variety of genres, giving preference to listings from:

• Established national magazines, journals, reviews, and publishers.
• Reputable regional publications.
• Prestigious regional organizations (Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown; Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge).
• NWU members or other NWU locals.

We generally avoid listings for markets that:

• Pay nothing or pay only in copies (we make exceptions for regional publications or those affiliated with our members).
• Are obviously just vanity publishing operations or seem otherwise questionable.
• Seem unlikely to appeal to most NWU/Boston members (such as contests open only to Nevada writers).

However, we try to mix in specialty listings that might be of interest to some groups of members, such as gays and lesbians, African-Americans, and writers with little or no experience.

On the issue of entry fees, we generally:

• Avoid listings from commercial publications that charge entry or reading fees.
• Accept some listings from reputable noncommercial organizations that charge entry or reading fees, such as colleges and nonprofit literary journals; in those cases, we give preference to those offering the biggest cash prizes and additional goodies, such as expenses-paid travel. or multiple prizes.
• Accept some listings offering entrants something in exchange for the fee (such a subscription or awards issue).
• Accept those with entry fees below $25; we make exceptions if there's a particularly good payoff.

Please get in touch if you have suggestions for the column, good news about something you submitted, or complaints about any listed organization or publication. Thanks!