RULES FOR THE 2020 NORMAN GALAXY OF WRITERS’ ANNUAL CONTEST — Deadline
10/10/2020
Dues-paying Galaxy members are invited to enter our annual contest. Enter as many categories as you wish, but only one entry per category. Please read the rules carefully to ensure your manuscript(s) will meet all the submission requirements.
CATEGORIES:
Nonfiction Feature Article: 1,500 words maximum
Adult Short Story (fiction): 2,000 words maximum
Rhymed Poetry: Any length
Unrhymed Poetry: Any length
Nostalgic Essay (personal): 1,500 words maximum
Children’s Fiction (for readers 8-12 years of age): 1,000 words maximum
Adult Flash Fiction: 500 words maximum
Novel: first pages with a synopsis to a maximum of 15 pages
CONTEST RULES:
1.
In order to enter, you must be a member of the
Norman Galaxy of Writers and have paid dues ($25) for the current year. Dues
may be paid in person to the treasurer by check or money order made payable to
the Norman Galaxy of Writers at P. O. Box 5581, Norman, OK 73070. Please include your name, address,
email, and phone number with your payment.
2.
Manuscripts must be entered by electronic
submission.
a.
Send your digital entry as an attachment to the Contest
Chair (drdan80@gmail.com) on or before the deadline, October 10, 2020.
b.
Electronic entries must be sent in the form of
doc (any version), PDF, or RTF.
c.
Send a separate email for each entry.
d.
The subject line should include the word
"contest" and the name of the category. Example: Contest/Nostalgic
Essay.
e.
A cover sheet, downloaded from
http://www.normangalaxyofwriters.com, must accompany every entry. Send it as a
second attachment with your entry to the Contest Chair.
3.
Each entry requires a $2.00 nonrefundable processing fee. For example, if a member enters five
categories, s/he would send a check for $10.00 and a copy of each cover sheet for
the five entries to the Norman Galaxy of Writers at P. O. Box 5581, Norman, OK
73070. It must be received by the contest deadline,
so don’t wait until the last minute. Cover sheets are available to be
downloaded from the Galaxy website at http://www.normangalaxyofwriters.com.
4.
All entries must be unpublished or unaccepted for
publication at the time of submission. Any manuscript entered must be your own
original work.
Contest Rules, Norman Galaxy of Writers, page 2
5.
You may enter each category once. No manuscript
may be entered in more than one category. Manuscripts
that have previously won a monetary award (1st,
2nd, 3rd, or Crème de la Crème) may not be entered again
in any Galaxy contest.
6.
Formatting.
a.
All entries must be double spaced,
except for poetry and the novel synopses.
b.
Fonts must follow the industry
standard, which is 12-point and either Times New Roman or Courier.
c.
Margins should be one inch on
all sides.
d.
In the top right corner of each
page, enter the category, title, word count, and page number. Example: Flash
Fiction / Laughter / 498 words / p. 1.
e.
On the first page of the
manuscript, the title should be centered 1/3 to ½ of the way down the page. If
the entry is a poem, the title and poem should be centered on the page.
7.
The author’s name MUST NOT appear on any page of
the manuscript, or in the subject line of the digital entry.
8.
Romance is okay, but entries may not include
sexual content or graphic violence. In the event the Contest Chair receives a
questionable entry, he will make a determination in concert with the club’s
president as to whether the guideline has been broken.
NOTICE:
·
Judges will be selected by the Contest Chair
based on each judge’s experience in the genre and their willingness to write critiques.
Judges’ decisions are final. There must be a minimum of three entries in a
category before it will be judged and prizes awarded. If not, in that specific
case, the entry fee will be returned for lack of a category.
·
Awards will be presented at the annual December awards
luncheon, December 12, 2020.
·
Certificates and cash prizes will be awarded in each category:
first place, $15; second place, $10; third place, $5.
Certificates will be given to honorable mentions. The Bonnie Speer Crème de la
Crème Award ($30) will be awarded to the best of the first place winners. Judges’
comments will be returned to the entrants digitally following the announcement
of awards.
GALAXY CONTEST CATEGORIES
1.
Nonfiction Feature Article: This is a factual
manuscript on any topic of general interest that might appear in a newsstand
magazine, not a fictional or opinion piece. 1,500 words maximum.
2.
Short Story (fiction for adults): The story
revolves around a protagonist with a goal or a problem to solve. The five key
elements are character, setting, conflict, plot, and resolution. It is similar
to a novel, only shorter. 2,000 words
maximum.
3.
Rhymed Poetry: Poems use figurative language,
sound, and rhythm to tell a story, or to evoke imagination or an emotion. A
single line is called a verse. Verses grouped together make a stanza. Any
length.
4.
Unrhymed Poetry: Unrhymed poems use the effects
of rhythm and sound to create a story, mood, or emotion. Contains one or more
stanzas. Any length.
5.
Nostalgic Essay (personal): This is a
first-person narrative that focuses on one of the author’s real life
experiences. 1,500 words maximum.
6.
Children’s Fiction (for readers 8-12 years of
age): This is a short story focusing on a child protagonist having a goal or a
problem that s/he works to solve with or without a sidekick. It has character,
setting, conflict, plot, and resolution. 1,000 words maximum.
7.
Flash Fiction (for adults): This is a short, short
story that includes characters, setting, conflict, plot, and resolution. 500
words maximum.
8.
Novel: Novels are long-form works of fiction. An
interesting point-of-view character with a strong plot, conflict, and a
satisfying conclusion are expected. Manuscripts from a wide variety of genres (including,
but not limited to, sci-fi, romance, historical, mystery, horror, mainstream,
etc.) will be accepted. Submit the first consecutive pages with a synopsis, for
a total not to exceed fifteen pages. The synopsis can be single spaced, but the
manuscript pages must be double spaced.
NORMAN GALAXY OF WRITERS
2020 MANDATORY CONTEST ENTRY COVER SHEET
CATEGORY __________________________________________________________________
TITLE OF MANUSCRIPT _______________________________________________________
WORD COUNT _______________________________________________________________
NAME OF AUTHOR ___________________________________________________________
PHONE ______________________________________________________________________
EMAIL ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________
GOOD LUCK!!!
