(Megan Powell passes on word of this contest. Thanks, Megan.)
The purpose of the Million Writers Award is to honor and promote the best fiction published in online literary journals and magazines during 2004.
The Reason
The reason for the Million Writers Award is that most of the major literary prizes for short fiction (such as the Best American Short Stories series and the O. Henry Awards) have ignored web-published fiction. This award aims to show that world-class fiction is being published online and to promote this fiction to the larger reading and literary community.
How It Works
The Million Writers Award takes its name from the idea that we in the online writing community have the power to promote the great stories we are creating. If only a few hundred writers took the time to tell fifteen of their friends about a great online short story--and if these friends then passed the word about this fiction to their friends (and so on and so on)--this one story would soon have a larger readership than all of the stories in Best American Short Stories.
To help promote online stories, the Million Writers Award accepts nominations from readers, writers, and editors (and volunteer judges who assist with the award). There is no entry fee. The only entry requirement is that anyone making a nomination agrees to help promote the winners of the award by sending an e-mail about the winners to at least fifteen of their friends, with the added message that they hope the friend will pass on the information to more people. It is also hoped that nominators will help promote the winners through other means, such as linking to the stories, posting the information on message boards, and so on.
Best Online Publication Award
In addition to the award for best fiction, the online magazine or journal that ends up with the most stories selected as "Notable Stories of the Year" will be honored with an award as the year's best publication for online fiction.
Why Should I Do This?
The general gripe among writers is that no one pays attention to quality writings, while bad or mediocre writings get lots of attention because they are published in prestigious magazines or written by authors who are good at gaining media attention. This award is about countering this trend by promoting the best online writers. If enough writers, readers, and editors agree to help promote the winners of this award, then all online writers will benefit from a greater acceptance of online publications.
The Rules
1) Only stories published in online literary journals, magazines, and e-zines that have an editorial process are eligible for nomination. This means that an editor must have selected the story for publication. Self-published stories are not eligible. Stories published in the online versions of print journal or magazines are eligible provided that the online version of the journal or magazine is accessible by the general public.
2) Anyone may nominate ONE story for the award. This means that readers of magazines can nominate one story and that writers can nominate one their own stories, provided the story was published in 2004 in an online magazine. Editors of online magazines and journals can nominate up to THREE of the stories published in their magazine during 2004.
3) To be eligible for nomination, a story must be longer than 1,000 words.
4) Any writer, reader, or editor who nominates a story agrees to help promote the winners to their friends and/or e-mail mailing lists. The more publicity gained by these winners and the online magazines that published them, the better all online writers will do. In addition, the editors of storySouth will promote the winners in press releases which will be sent to various media outlets.
5) In addition to nominations from writers, readers, and editors, the Million Writers Award will also use a small number of volunteer judges to nominate stories for the award. The names of the volunteer judges will be released after the award has been announced.
6) From all of the nominees, a list of "Notable Stories of the Year" will be compiled. From this list, Jason Sanford, the fiction editor of storySouth, will chose the top ten stories of the year. The general public will then vote on these top ten stories, with the story gaining the most votes named as the overall winner of the award. Each member of the general public will be allowed one vote for their favorite story. In addition, the award's volunteer judges will be given what amounts to a "super vote" toward the best story of the year. The "top ten" story each judge selects as the best of the year will receive a 10% bump in its total votes.
7) Stories originally published in storySouth are not eligible. While stories from storySouth are naturally the best fiction being published anywhere (in the humble view of storySouth's editors), it would be a conflict of interest to nominate or judge fiction we originally published.
8) The deadline for submitting story nominations is February 1, 2005. The list of notable stories of the year and the top ten stories of the year will be released on Febuary 15, 2005. Voting on the top story of the year will begin Feb. 15, 2005, and will end March 15, 2005.
To Nominate a Story
To nominate a story (or stories), e-mail your name, the name of the nominated author, the name of the magazine or journal, and a URL hyperlink to the story to Jason Sanford at millionwriters@yahoo.com. The URL must go directly to the story's page in the online magazine or journal that originally published it. Links to author home pages where the story is posted are not eligible. DO NOT e-mail the entire story, either pasted into the body of the e-mail or as an attachment. Doing so will guarantee that a story is not considered for the award.
Please make sure that the e-mail you use to nominate a story is the same e-mail the judges can contact you with later on. Your e-mail address will only be used to contact you with information about the award and the winners. It will not be given out to anyone else.
How Can I Help?
If you want to help promote this award and online writers in general, please pass the word about this contest or link to this page.
For more information, please e-mail Jason Sanford at millionwriters@yahoo.com.
(My eligible stories include "Forgive Me Not", "A Little Trouble", and "Home".)
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