100 Years On – An ABCtales Competition

Posted by Luke Neima on Wed, 16 Apr 2014

I’m glad to make a call for entries to ABCtales’ latest prose and poetry competition, 100 Years On.

2014 marks the centennial of the First World War — and ABCtales will mark that occasion by inviting writers to incorporate the event into their work. There’s no set way that the war should be treated - pieces do not even need to be directly related to the war in any way - but we do ask that there is at least some mention made, however incidentally. The theme is a starting point for thinking about this monumental event in our collective history, a means of bridging the distance between us and that time, or of accentuating it.

The prize will a fifty/fifty jackpot –half of the total proceeds from entries will be split between our winners in the prose and the poetry categories, and the other half will go towards funding ABCtales. Winners will also receive personal feedback from our editor and the Judge, Francisco Vilhena, part of the editorial team at Granta Magazine.

Rules:

The competition is open to all ABCtales members on payment of a £5 entry fee, £9 for two entries or £12 for three in any genre. No more than three entries per writer. No entry will be considered until the entry fee has been paid via Paypal.

The competition will be judged by Francisco Vilhena. The opinion of the judge is final. No employee or relative of an employee of ABCtales is able to enter.

All entries must be posted on ABCtales - post your entry as you would a normal ABC story, but check the ‘Add to Competition' box at the bottom of the story edit form - you'll have to click 'flags' just above and to the left of the save button, and then you'll see the competition checkbox. The two categories judged will be fiction and poetry: there will be a word limit of three hundred and fifty (350) words for poetry and twenty five hundred (2,500) words for fiction.

The prize will be split equally between winners of the poetry and prose categories. Honourable mentions will be announced but there will only be one winner in each category.

The competition is open from now until June 1st, and the winner will be announced on June 16th.

To register, use the box below:

Number of Entries
Enter your ABC username:

Comments

Submitted by well-wisher on

Hi, Luke. I've paid my entry fee but I can't find the 'add to competition box'.

This is all I can see 'just above and to the right of the save button'

"Who can view this post?

N/A

Everyone

Logged-in users only. This post will not be indexed by a search engine."

Oh look, a link. I wonder where it leads.

JoHn

Submitted by Luke Neima on

Hi Well-wisher,

I'm glad you're submitting! And I've just realised that since we've added a new feature this month it's slightly harder to find the button than before. On the left-hand side of the 'Who can see this post?' box is a button marked 'Flags.' If you click that, the competition checkbox should appear.

Looking forward to reading your piece,

Luke

Submitted by geegogs1 on

Hi. Is it ok to edit and submit a piece that I've already put up on the site?

Thanks,
Emily

Submitted by geegogs1 on

Sorry, that was meant to say question in the subject box of my previous comment!

Submitted by Luke Neima on

Hi Geegogs,

Yes that's entirely fine - the point of the competition is to stimulate people to write something new or finish off old pieces, so if this has you doing the latter I'm happy to hear it,

Luke

Submitted by prettyrose on

smileyHi Luke, I hope your well and managed to relax over Easter, even it was for a short while.

This may seem a stupid question, but bare with me, I haven't been well&still are not fully recovered, My question is, Do we pay first then submit or finish work, then pay and submit. It just read to me even if we have not written our work yet, we have to pay before we upload our work.

And well done on theme of comp, even if like you say our work is not related to the war,having it mentioned is great, sadly many of us for what ever the reason talk more about the 2nd world war and battles since, and some will not of heard of it, so its great to have it back in the lime light, So this is a privilege to create a poem for the brave soldiers and their family who did so much for us, I just hope I can do them justice.

 

Take care

Trish :)

smiley Keep Smiling

Keep Writing xxx

Submitted by Luke Neima on

Hi Trish,

Glad to hear the theme's sparked something for you - that's exactly what I was hoping for. It really is a momentous event in our collective history and very worth giving thought and voice to - whatever manifestation that voice takes, I think it should be interesting. 

As far as entry fees and uploading work goes, it doesn't matter in which order you do it. The only caveat is that you have to have both paid the entry fee on Paypal and uploaded your work (and added it to the competition) by the first of June. So take your time or get in early - whatever you feel most comfortable with. 

I hope you're enjoying your Easter and feeling better soon,

Luke