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WordSmitten Writing Workshop The TenTen Fiction Competition
ANNOUNCING WordSmitten's
ANNUAL LITERARY FICTION COMPETITION
A Short Story in exactly 1,010 words

Award-Winning Short Stories
We are pleased to announce the 2008 WordSmitten annual fiction competitions.

Congratulations to our 2007 storytellers and our thanks to all writers who participated in this event. As always, these are difficult decisions. Each writer's story has merit, but a story that meets certain criteria always stands apart. The winning stories for this year will be announced in the fall of 2008.

2007 WordSmitten's Storycove Flash Fiction Prize of $150.00 for best short fiction was awarded last fall to Christina Fifield of Lindenhurst, New York,
for her whimsical story Sunday Drives Done Mojo Style.


2007 WordSmitten's TenTen Short Story Prize of $1,010.00 was awarded to Andrew Davis for his story, Same Thing, Only Different.

It is our policy to award this scholarship to writers for original, unpublished fiction that has not been recognized, published, or awarded any previous prize.
Our thanks to WordSmitten's Fiction Judge for the 2007 competition, author and educator Janet Burroway. Janet Burroway's engaging and insightful textbook Writing Fiction continues to guide writers to higher levels of literary practice. Listen to an insightful interview with our 2007 Fiction Judge on BlogTalkRadio.com/wordsmitten to hear Janet Burroway discuss her outstanding career, her loss of her son, and her witty commentary on her first year as an educator.

Next year's deadline is July 1.

What's the rule for the TenTen?

The Rule: Write a short story that requires exactly 1,010 words (excludes the title and footnotes). That's it. That's the rule. Excise those adverbs and cut those adjectives. Make us laugh or make us weep. Above all, pay rigorous attention to the word count. It's why we call this unique short story contest The TenTen. It's a challenge to be precise, be witty, be short.

Sharpen your pencils and rev up your laptops for the TenTen 2009.

Congratulations to a previous winner of the $1,010.00 Fiction Prize: Maria Dahvana Headley. Her recent novel, The Year of Yes, rocked the house when broadcasting's Katie Couric interviewed her.

For current events on wordsmitten.com, you'll have a great time tapping the lantern at the top of WordSmitten's site pages. Visit often.

WordSmitten Media's recent fiction judges include:
Janet Burroway, author of the revered textbook, Writing Fiction, and a renowned educator at Florida State University, now FSU's noted Professor Emerita.
Noy Holland, author of The Spectacle of the Body, educator, and head of the UMass creative writing program, helped us to select Maria Headley's story that evolved into the bestseller and a favorite novel for Katie Couric, MD Headley's The Year of Yes.
Peter Meinke, educator, poet, and author of
The Piano Tuner (Winner of the Flannery O' Connor Award in Short Fiction).
Thisbe Nissen, author of The Good People of New York & Osprey Island.
Michael C. White, professor of creative writing and author of The Garden of Martyrs, A Dream of Wolves, and other notable works of fiction.


Editor Nan A. Talese
 
 
Author Colleen Curran
 
 
 
 
Author Maria Headley
 
Maria Headley
One of WordSmitten's
Award Winning Authors

Deadline: July 1

CALL FOR FICTION
WordSmitten, an international digital media company provides interviews, reviews, and news of interest to the publishing and writing communities. We invite all writers of literary fiction (and as much as we like a good romance and thriller to read, no other genre, sorry) to enter this annual competition.

The annual 1010 Fiction Award provides
a grant in the amount of $1010.00 to be awarded annually in late autumn.

READ OUR PREVIOUS WINNING STORIES:
CANNING DAY by Mary McNulty
Fiction Judge: Peter Meinke (THE PIANO TUNER)
AND THIS ONE IS JUST RIGHT by Maria D. Headley
Fiction Judge: Noy Holland (THE SPECTACLE OF THE BODY)

Okay, there are more rules.
Requirements: Fiction previously unpublished, submitted through on-line procedures only, with a specific word count of exactly 1,010 words. No attachments.

All rights revert upon e-publication on our site, www.wordsmitten.com and winner will be notified by mail and/or by e-mail. If we are unable to reach the selected winner we will choose a runner up if we do not have current contact information on file. To register, read the guidelines and include a reading fee of $15.00. No multiple submissions. Literary fiction only.

Guidelines: We only accept submissions of on-line manuscripts until the deadline of July 1, 2009 and anything beyond that date will not be acknowledged or accepted. Participants must be 18 years on or before July 1, 2009.

Author's name should not appear on the manuscript under the title. The top of the e-mail should contain the title only.

Provide name, address, telephone number, and title at the bottom of the e-mail; PLACE this info at least five spaces past the end of the story.

IMPORTANT: In your e-mail's Subject Line,
include the words TenTen Fiction.

Ready to submit your TenTen Short Story to WordSmitten's 2009 competition? First, send your submission to storywordsmitten.com and include the Subject Header: TenTen Fiction. Then click on the PayPal logo at the bottom of this paragraph.

If you are not familiar with PayPal (a company owned by eBay and listed on the stock exchange) and prefer snail mail, then write to us for permission to mail your application.

To submit your story electronically, follow the PayPal instructions to process your reading fee of $15.00. Include your name, address, email, phone number, and your story title with your PayPal application. Use our registered e-mail address (awardwordsmitten.com) to complete your registration on PayPal.

To register now, click here:

Word Smitten - a Verified PayPal Company.

 



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