3rd place (tie):
“Something Practical” by Melody Burris
“Waiting” by Katherine Cowley
2nd place:
“When the Bishop Started Killing Dogs” by Steven Peck
1st place (and winner of the $400 Grand Prize):
“Avek, Who is Distributed” by Steven Peck
We have loved sharing the work of all twelve finalists.
But we’re only going to write one $400 check.
The winner of the “Four Centuries of Mormon Stories” contest will be selected by audience vote. Voters must first read (or hear, in the case of voters who are not yet literate) at least six of the twelve finalists and then rank their top four. These four ranked votes should then be emailed to everydaymormon@gmail.com with VOTE in the subject line. (One vote per person please, even if you have multiple email accounts.) Votes with fewer than four pieces ranked will not be counted.
First place votes will be counted as four points, second as three, and so on. The piece with the most points by the end of November 6th will win.
Again, in order to be valid, votes must:
1) Be sent to everydaymormon@gmail.com by the end of 6 November with VOTE in the subject line.
2) Include four pieces ranked from 1st favorite through 4th favorite. (Be sure to list votes by story title, as some authors have two stories.)
Feel free to include any other feedback you have on the “Four Centuries of Mormon Stories” contest in the body of the email below your ranked vote list.
Please share these voting instructions with friends–they may appreciate the chance to participate in an election with more than two choices and where their vote might actually be decisive!
Join us to discuss the finalists in the “Four Centuries of Mormon Stories” contest on a different blog each day. Here’s the schedule:
Mon. Oct. 15: “Little Karl” by Melissa Leilani Larson at Dawning of a Brighter Day
Tues. Oct. 16: “Ruby’s Gift” by Emily Debenham at Real Intent
Wed. Oct. 17: “Numbers” by Melody Burris at BeingLDS
Thu. Oct. 18: “Maurine Whipple, Age 16, Takes a Train North” by Theric Jepson at The Low-Tech World
Fri. Oct. 19: “When the Bishop Started Killing Dogs” by Steven Peck at Thmazing’s Thutopia
Sat. Oct. 20: “Something Practical” by Melody Burris on the Everyday Mormon Writer Facebook page
Mon. Oct. 22: “The ReActivator” by Wm Morris at Modern Mormon Men
Tues. Oct. 23: “Oaxaca” by Anneke Garcia at A Latter-day Voice
Wed. Oct. 24: “The Defection of Baby Mixo” by Mark Penny at Mormon Midrashim
Thu. Oct. 25: “Release” by Wm Morris at EricJamesStone.com
Fri. Oct. 26: “Avek, Who Is Distributed” by Steven Peck at A Motley Vision
Sat. Oct. 27: “Waiting” by Kathy Cowley at Segullah
Thanks to all the writers who contributed to our contest. We contest coordinators went in expecting to choose the top eight pieces and ended up choosing the top twelve because of the strength of the field. In the end, there were many stories we enjoyed, but simply didn’t have room to advance.
The twelve finalists will be posted on Everyday Mormon Writer one per day from 15-27 October. They are as follows:
19th century (15-17 Oct):
“Little Karl” by Melissa Leilani Larson
“Ruby’s Gift” by Emily Debenham
“Numbers” by Melody Burris
20th century (18-20 Oct):
“Maurine Whipple, Age 16, Takes a Train North” by Theric Jepson
“When the Bishop Started Killing Dogs” by Steven Peck
“Something Practical” by Melody Burris
21st century (22-24 Oct):
“The ReActivator” by Wm Morris
“Oaxaca” by Anneke Garcia
“The Defection of Baby Mixo” by Mark Penny
22nd century (25-27 Oct):
“Release” by Wm Morris
“Avec, who is Distributed” by Steven Peck
“Waiting” by Kathy Cowley
Readers will be able to cast votes for their four favorite stories from 27 Oct-6 Nov, with the winner taking the $400 Grand Prize.
We hope you’ll join us for the contest and the vote!
-Nicole and James Goldberg, Contest Coordinators
Generous donors have offered to sponsor tickets to the Future Dinner with guest of honor Eric James Stone this Saturday in Pleasant Grove for two people who are interested, but don’t feel able to purchase tickets on their own.
If you would like one of these sponsored tickets, we invite you to send a question you’d like to ask Eric at the dinner to everydaymormonwriter at gmail dot com before 9 a.m. Thursday morning. We”ll then compile a list of the questions and send them to Eric to select two winners, and send the winners their tickets Thursday night.
(If you’d like to purchase a ticket on your own, you may still do so through Paypal on the Everyday Mormon Writer contest page.)
We are looking for fiction of any genre depicting Mormon life during any point in the 19th, 20th, 21st, or 22nd century.
Deadline: September 24, 2012 at 11:59 pm Mountain Time. [Note: the deadline was initially listed as 17 Sept, but has been extended to better accommodate editors' schedules.]
Length: Entries should be fun to read in a single sitting online. Entries may be as long as 2,000 words, but preference will be given to entries under 1,000 words.
Submission instructions: Each entry should be submitted separately by email to everydaymormon at gmail dot com. The subject line of the email should include the words “contest submission” and specify which century the submission depicts. For example: “Contest Submission: 22nd Century.” No cover letter in the body of the email is necessary, since selection of the finalists will be blind, but authors should include their contact information. Below their contact information, authors should paste the text of their entry–no attachments, please.
Submission limits: Each author may submit no more than three stories in a single century category. Theoretically, an author could submit up to twelve stories by writing three in each of the contest centuries (though we will be both surprised and impressed if anyone manages to do so).
Prize: As of 12 July 2012, the total prize package for this contest is $170. We are still accepting contributions to the final prize on our main Contest page and will give periodic updates on the size of the prize package.
Rights: By submitting, authors guarantee Everyday Mormon Writer non-exclusive internet publication rights. If selected as finalists, authors also guarantee Everyday Mormon Writer limited one-time rights to produce commemorative prints of their story for certain contest donors.
This summer, we’re soliciting fiction and artwork depicting Latter-day Saints in the 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd centuries. Within the next week, we should be approved to start raising prize funds on Kickstarter with the hope of raising at least $300 in prize money. [Update 7 June 2012: the project wasn't approved on Kickstarter...looks like they don't accept contest fundraisers. Update 14 June 2012: we made our own contest page to fundraise instead.]
Detailed submission guidelines will be up by the end of June. For those of you who’d like to get started early, though, the short version is as follows:
-We want works that are easy for our online audience to process. For writing, that means we prefer works under 1,000 words. For art, we want pieces that look good at around 500-600 pixels in either dimension.
-By submitting, you grant us nonexclusive online publication rights and limited nonexclusive print rights for a one-time batch of commemorative prints for the contest’s financial supporters.
-Writers/artists may submit up to three pieces per century to the contest.
-Previously published work is OK so long as you retain the rights.
We’re projecting a contest deadline in September with finalists running in October.
We’ll be publishing periodic Soapbox posts with discussion points and brainstorming topics–keep an eye out for those.
Feel free to ask questions about the contest in the comments.
Irreantum, the literary magazine of the Association for Mormon Letters, will be accepting submissions to our 2012 literary contests until May 31, 2012. Prizes range from $100-$300 and include possible publication in Irreantum. Our fiction and creative nonfiction contests are supported by a grant from the Eugene England foundation, and our poetry contest is supported by a grant from Mary Ann Taylor. Because Irreantum is a journal dedicated to exploring Mormon culture, submissions that relate to the Mormon experience will be given preference in judging. Authors need not be LDS. Please visit http://irreantum.mormonletters.org/ for contest rules and further information.
Attention, readers in or near Utah Valley (or Salt Lake):
If you enjoyed seeing Nick Stephen’s “The Garden Gate” and would like to see the 20 by 24 inch original, it’s currently on display at the Repartee Gallery inside Orem’s University Mall. There will be an Artist’s reception this Saturday 6:30-8:30 pm where you can also meet and talk to Nick.
Another of Nick’s religious paintings, “The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever,” is currently on display as part of the International Art Competition at the Museum of Church History and Art next to Temple Square. I think a small digital image communicates the core ideas of that piece effectively, but I was still blown away when I saw the full 38″ by 62″ original–Stephens’ work has a strong texture that makes seeing it live feel almost tactile.
We hope some of you get a chance to see Nick Stephens’ work in Orem or Salt Lake. (And if anyone hears about other events involving EMW writers or artists, please email everydaymormonwriter at gmail dot com so we can let readers know.)
Beginning 16 March, Everyday Mormon Writer will begin publishing creative content weekly. By the end of the year, we hope to have enough quality content ready to publish every weekday.
If you’d like to submit your own work, we recommend checking out the pieces in the Mormon Lit Blitz Contest to get a feel for the kinds of work our editors have enjoyed.