Writing Contest: Family and Imperfection

It’s time! It’s here!

I’m very excited to announce our first WRITING CONTEST is officially open for submissions. Our theme is Family and Imperfection, and parameters are loosey-goosey because, as a writer myself, I find the best work comes from the heart and not from a precise word count or writing style.

If you’re a writer, take a shot! ENTER. If you’re not a writer, share this with your writing friends; trust me, telling a writer friend you thought of them – that you think they’ve got what it takes to make this writing gig happen, that they have stories worth telling – is life-giving encouragement. If it wasn’t for a few people who relentlessly encouraged me and continuously urged me to KEEP WRITING, I wouldn’t be here with all of you today; instead, I’d still have what my kids call a “real job” where I “help people” and not a “pretend job” where I “think about myself all day.” And man, that would suck.

Five winners will have their submissions featured individually here at the 5 Kids blog, and one of those five will be selected by the editor of Mamapedia to be featured again on that wildly popular site as a Mamapedia Voice

Here are all the details: 

OldWoodPencil5 Kids Writing Contest Submission Guidelines

  • Theme: Family and Imperfection. Please note: this contest is open to ALL writers. Parents. Non-parents. Experienced writers. Novices. Young people. Old people. Decrepit people. Exhausted people. And people who spilled coffee on themselves this morning. ALL the people.
  • Style: We’d like to read compelling stories! We’re looking for essays that are well-written, interesting, engaging, entertaining and/or thought-provoking. They can be serious, funny, sentimental… whatever. Knock yourself out.
  • Word Count: The number needed to tell your story. As a loose guideline, I do recommend keeping it between 800-1,500 words just for readability. If your story is more compelling than 1,500 words, though, or doesn’t need 800 to tell it, ignore me. No one’s going to count your words.
  • Previously Unpublished: Please submit original and previously unpublished work. Yes, this includes previously unpublished online, as well. 
  • Dates: The contest officially opens for submissions February 16 – March 1, 2014. Contest winners will be announced by March 10, 2014.
  • Contact: Send your essay to me at FiveKidsIsALotOfKids@gmail.com. Use “Writing Contest Submission” in the subject line.
  • Include: Your essay, a brief bio (less than 150 words), a headshot, any photographs or other illustrations that accompany your essay (you must own the rights), and any links you’d like included if your piece is selected (i.e. your blog, any books you’ve written, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
  • Winners and Prizes: 5 Winning Essays will be selected by a panel of judges and featured individually as guest posts on the 5 Kids Blog. From the 5 Winners, the editor of Mamapedia will select one essay to feature on the Mamapedia website as a Mamapedia Voice. Psst… Mamapedia has over 140,000 Facebook fans and 2 million unique visitors per month; I’m very grateful for the fabulous editor there for working with us on this contest!

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Old Wood Pencil image credit gubgib via freedigitalimages.net

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5 responses to “Writing Contest: Family and Imperfection”

  1. Unpublished as in not even an old blog post from the beginning of your blog writing days when your readership was comprised of immediate family members and some random spammers from Europe? LOL

    • Yes. Unpublished as in not even an old blog post. 🙁 I know! This SUCKS. And I DO republish pieces from other writers from time to time, but this is an Original Works contest. HOWEVER, do feel free to rework an old piece. Add to it. Edit the heck out it. Give it a fresh voice. Retell the same story with different words. A story worth telling is a story worth retelling.

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