Wednesday, November 07, 2007

"Restless Dawn" Short Fiction Contest


Happy autumn everyone! I can't believe the strangeness of this season. Here we are entering the second week of November, and the leaves in our area are just reaching peak. That's three weeks late. Maybe the delay will make the colors all the more vibrant. At least I can hope.

Autumn skies are some of the most spectacular and unsettled of the year. What better way to kick off my 7th Clarity of Night contest than to capture one. Welcome to the "Restless Dawn" Short Fiction Contest!

Using the photograph above for inspiration, compose a short fiction piece of no more than 250 words in any genre or style. Send your entry to me by email at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com before 11:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 14th (Eastern Time, United States). I'd prefer attachments formatted in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect, but if you have something more exotic, you can paste the text into the body of an email. Each entry will be posted and indexed.

To make things interesting, I'm offering the following prizes (not to mention bragging rights):

  • 1st Place: $25 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Restless Dawn" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)
  • 2nd Place: $20 Amazon gift certificate
  • 3rd Place: $15 Amazon gift certificate
  • 4th Place: $10 Amazon gift certificate
  • 5th Place: $5 Amazon gift certificate
  • Readers' Choice Award: $15 Amazon Gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Restless Dawn" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)

But this is about more than prizes. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with your fellow writers. Our different perspectives, styles, and skills shine when we all start at the same place. It's a great opportunity to learn from each other.

Rules:
  1. 250 words maximum.
  2. Titles are optional, but encouraged. Titles do not count toward your word count.
  3. One entry per person.
  4. Any genre or style is welcome. If you choose to submit poetry, you must have narrative movement within the poem if you wish to compete with the prose pieces for the prizes.
  5. The copyright remains with you, the author; however, you grant me worldwide first electronic publishing rights to post your entry on this blog indefinitely.
  6. Judging will be conducted by me, Jason Evans. For an explanation of judging and helpful hints, see A Note on Judging. You can also read the winning entries from past contests.
  7. Please provide a name for your byline. If you have a website or a blog, I'd be happy to link your site to your byline. If you don't have a website or blog, feel free to include a short bio. A bio does not count towards your word count.
  8. At the close of the contest, I will give the date and time for the announcement of winners.
  9. After the winners are announced, I will post what I liked most about each entry in the comments. Also, if you send a request to me by email, I would be happy to offer any constructive comments I might have. Constructive comments will be by private email only.
  10. The Readers' Choice Award is awarded by vote of the contest participants. The entry with the highest number of votes wins. The rules for this portion of the contest will be posted after the entry period closes.
  11. Public critiques in comments are encouraged, but must remain respectful. I reserve the right to delete comments and ban participants who do not abide by the collegial spirit of Clarity of Night contests.
  12. For prior contests and their results, see the links on the sidebar.

Welcome to this latest contest! The entry period is now open.

(Click HERE for the contest underway.)

22 comments:

briliantdonkey said...

Wow thats a awesome picture as most of yours seem to be. Looking forward to reading all the entries and probably even throwing one in there myself.

BD

Jaye Wells said...

Guess there won't be a lot of vampire entries this time. ;) I'll have to cook up something special for this one, my friend.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

So excited! I'm going to link to this also!

Pallav said...

Hey man this is cool and sooner than I was hoping, anyway have sent my entry :) hope to see fireworks this time!

Cheers!

N

Unknown said...

Mmm... tempting. I haven't actually written any fiction in several years. I'm afraid that I might be all rusted up. That photograph is pretty inspirational, though.

SzélsőFa said...

I've also linked the contest in today's entry in my blog.
This is a beautiful picture :)

Marc said...

That sky works for me. Will internalize and create.

94stranger said...

new kid on the blocg - just e-mailed entry. Arrrived via red ravine
Cheers
94S

Chris Eldin said...

Oh, This is just awesome!!!

I woke up around 3:30 am or so, checked this site, went back to sleep and Voila! An idea....

Thanks for hosting this!!
:-)

WH said...

Great pic, Jason. I think I'll have a go at this. Thanks.

Beth said...

Jason, this is a beautiful picture. In case I can't think of anything to do it justice, I wanted you to know.

Anonymous said...

Hi There,

Just blogged about your contest. Please check it out at the url below.

http://www.bloggingcontest.com/win-an-amazon-gift-certificate-ends-111407/

Shesawriter said...

Gentlemen, start your engines! :-) Can't wait read these entries.

Anonymous said...

BD, thanks! When I saw that sky, I put my briefcase down, turned around, and got my camera.

Jaye, good point! If a vampire is up at dawn, he/she's in serious trouble.

Ello, can't wait to see your entry!

Nothingman, got it. It will be up soon.

Electric Orchid Hunter, something tells me you won't have too much trouble.

Szelsofa, thanks for the link! I hope you have a blast.

Marc, I need to ruminate on it a bit myself.

94Stranger, can you send it again? I didn't receive it. Thanks!

Church Lady, now that's dedication. =)

Billy, wind in the morning makes for a curious day.

Beth, thanks! As soon as I had it, I knew it would make a great prompt.

BlogginContest, thank you for the promotion! Much appreciated. :)

Shesawriter, I hear them revving!

Jerry Allen said...

Email sent! Gonna post about it on my blog now. See if I can get some of my 3 readers to join :)

Esther Avila said...

I love the photo, Jason. And I love the contest too! I can't wait to participate again. The fun thing is that it is as much fun reading all of the entries as it is writing one.
I mention this contest in my blog and linked it to your site. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I'm not a writer but I made an attempt at it. I've also blogged about your blog writing contest. hope it bring some traffic. Do let us know about your future contest so that we can promote it too.

x said...

Generous of you, Jason. I'm excited to just give it a shot and read the other entries. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jason, I have been directed to your site by Kaycie, a blogger I follow daily. I am very interested in your competition and will compose something before the deadline. I am currently writing a novel of a paranormal nature, a subject close to my heart.

Till the next time,
Crystal Jigsaw

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christian Seidel said...

Great picture, it was quite an inspiration. I have mailed my entry.

chong y l said...

Dear Jason:

Just sent off my entry.Over in equatorial Malaysia, Restless Dawn transforms into Restless Dusk, can stealsome poetic licence, yes?:)

YLChong