THE FOLLOWING IS FOR CONTESTS ONLY AND SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH REGULAR SUBMISSIONS
When submitting your entry to contests, you must be very careful to follow the guidelines. In the last few contests The Storyteller has sponsored, so many have failed to meet those guidelines. Because The Storyteller is a teaching magazine, and geared to new writers, we have either sent the entry back so they could fix it right, or we have ignored the lessor offenses.
By ignoring those small offenses, we feel we are not doing our job as a teaching magazine. If we ignore them, you will not learn to submit them correctly to other contests, and therefore, you will be disqualified and your entry fee becomes a donation.
From this point on, anyone not following the guidelines in any contest The Storyteller sponsors will be disqualified. Our requirements are not that hard to understand as we've tried to make them as simple as we possibly can.
The title page is a separate page from your manuscript. The title page should be on top of your manuscript and should include the following: Title of story, name, address, phone number, email (if you have one) and word count.
Your name SHOULD NOT appear anywhere else on your manuscript. The first page of your story should include the title only, followed by the story itself.
Make sure you have included the entry fee and make sure it is postmarked on or before the deadline date. If the deadline says, "deadline: must be postmarked by November 1", you can mail it on November 1st without being disqualified. But if you mail it on November 2nd with the November 2 postmark, then you will be disqualified.
As with all manuscripts sent, contest entries should be double-spaced. Single-spaced with an extra space between paragraphs will be disqualified. Name on manuscript and no title page will be disqualified. Over the alloted word count will be disqualified. No entry fee will be disqualified. And no entry fees will be returned.
If you want your entry to be read and considered for prize money, then you MUST follow the guidelines to the letter. If you can't do that, then we thank you for your donation.
My Father's Shoes
Regina Williams
2441 Washington Rd.
Maynard, AR 72444
870-647-2137
storyteller1@hightowercom.com
2,487 words
When submitting your entry to contests, you must be very careful to follow the guidelines. In the last few contests The Storyteller has sponsored, so many have failed to meet those guidelines. Because The Storyteller is a teaching magazine, and geared to new writers, we have either sent the entry back so they could fix it right, or we have ignored the lessor offenses.
By ignoring those small offenses, we feel we are not doing our job as a teaching magazine. If we ignore them, you will not learn to submit them correctly to other contests, and therefore, you will be disqualified and your entry fee becomes a donation.
From this point on, anyone not following the guidelines in any contest The Storyteller sponsors will be disqualified. Our requirements are not that hard to understand as we've tried to make them as simple as we possibly can.
The title page is a separate page from your manuscript. The title page should be on top of your manuscript and should include the following: Title of story, name, address, phone number, email (if you have one) and word count.
Your name SHOULD NOT appear anywhere else on your manuscript. The first page of your story should include the title only, followed by the story itself.
Make sure you have included the entry fee and make sure it is postmarked on or before the deadline date. If the deadline says, "deadline: must be postmarked by November 1", you can mail it on November 1st without being disqualified. But if you mail it on November 2nd with the November 2 postmark, then you will be disqualified.
As with all manuscripts sent, contest entries should be double-spaced. Single-spaced with an extra space between paragraphs will be disqualified. Name on manuscript and no title page will be disqualified. Over the alloted word count will be disqualified. No entry fee will be disqualified. And no entry fees will be returned.
If you want your entry to be read and considered for prize money, then you MUST follow the guidelines to the letter. If you can't do that, then we thank you for your donation.
My Father's Shoes
Regina Williams
2441 Washington Rd.
Maynard, AR 72444
870-647-2137
storyteller1@hightowercom.com
2,487 words
This is what the first page should look like--you can add the name of the contest as well, but this is really all you need.
The first page of your manuscraipt should look like this: You will note there is no name, page number or word count on this page. Just make sure you include the title.
The Other Side
Raindrops drown out the rattling of the old pickup as my parents and I creek down the washboard road, my father trying his best to miss most of the water puddled in the potholes. Mom sits next to him, strung tighter than a guitar strong, her hands twisting nervously in her lap. I sit by the window, staring through the rain swept windshield, offering my advice.
The second page should look like this:
2
"What do you think, Gina? Think we can make it?
"No, Oh, Lord no, Joe, we can't make it over that," my mother says, her voice high and strained.
"I'll check it out."
"You are not getting out of this truck," my mother, panicked at the prospect, glares at my father. "She's not wading across that creek, she'll drown.
"It's all right," he tells her. "Look. You can see the other side."
Taking off my shoes and socks I had worn to church, I open the truck door; my mother's grasping hands sliding off my already drenched blouse, her frantic words lost in the deluge. Barefoot, I walk through the mud to where the low-water bridge is supposed to be, stop, and study it for some time. I glance back at the truck, but all I can see are the headlights cutting twin paths through the rain, blinding me. I know, without seeing, that my father is watching me, willing me to do what I believe right. He trusts me not to do anything foolish. I smile, his trust in me a treasured thing, and with that thought, turn back to the raging water at my feet.
There should be nothing else but the page number and the story from this point on. No name anywhere on the manuscript. And remember, these samples only apply to contests.
But remember, if you don't follow the guidelines for both contests and submissions, you'll be disqualified in one and recieve a nice rejection letter for the other. When I talk to writer's groups, I stress this fact over and over, but I still get many submissions where the writer has failed. You have enough competition out there, don't sabotage yourself.
If you're not sure how to do any of this, please feel free to contact us. We'll be happy to help you set it up correctly.
The first page of your manuscraipt should look like this: You will note there is no name, page number or word count on this page. Just make sure you include the title.
The Other Side
Raindrops drown out the rattling of the old pickup as my parents and I creek down the washboard road, my father trying his best to miss most of the water puddled in the potholes. Mom sits next to him, strung tighter than a guitar strong, her hands twisting nervously in her lap. I sit by the window, staring through the rain swept windshield, offering my advice.
The second page should look like this:
2
"What do you think, Gina? Think we can make it?
"No, Oh, Lord no, Joe, we can't make it over that," my mother says, her voice high and strained.
"I'll check it out."
"You are not getting out of this truck," my mother, panicked at the prospect, glares at my father. "She's not wading across that creek, she'll drown.
"It's all right," he tells her. "Look. You can see the other side."
Taking off my shoes and socks I had worn to church, I open the truck door; my mother's grasping hands sliding off my already drenched blouse, her frantic words lost in the deluge. Barefoot, I walk through the mud to where the low-water bridge is supposed to be, stop, and study it for some time. I glance back at the truck, but all I can see are the headlights cutting twin paths through the rain, blinding me. I know, without seeing, that my father is watching me, willing me to do what I believe right. He trusts me not to do anything foolish. I smile, his trust in me a treasured thing, and with that thought, turn back to the raging water at my feet.
There should be nothing else but the page number and the story from this point on. No name anywhere on the manuscript. And remember, these samples only apply to contests.
But remember, if you don't follow the guidelines for both contests and submissions, you'll be disqualified in one and recieve a nice rejection letter for the other. When I talk to writer's groups, I stress this fact over and over, but I still get many submissions where the writer has failed. You have enough competition out there, don't sabotage yourself.
If you're not sure how to do any of this, please feel free to contact us. We'll be happy to help you set it up correctly.
