2014 Golden Nib contest

The 2014 Golden Nib writing contest is officially open. The Golden Nib is the Virginia Writers Club annual writing competition in three categories: fiction, non-fiction, and poetry with cash prizes for first, second, and third place finishers. Contestants must be members in good-standing of a VWC chapter as well as a member of the state organization. Each chapter submits one representative in each category to the state finals, where first, second, and third place winners are announced at the annual meeting (usually held in November).

ABOUT THE CONTEST: 
In 2005, the Virginia Writers Club, Inc. created a two-tier writing contest. Entries would be submitted and judged at the VWC Chapter-level first, and then each Chapter would forward its first-place winning entries for judging at the (second tier) State VWC level. Entrants who live within the jurisdiction of a VWC Chapter must enter the first tier of the competition through that Chapter. For those living in an area where no Chapter exists, they must submit their entries to the Chapter closest to them.

CONTEST RULES
Entries will be accepted on any subject the author or poet chooses in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry.

1. Manuscripts must be the original, unpublished work of the entrant, and must not have won a prize at any level in any other competition. The VWC State competition will now allow entries published in your personal blogs. Writing published in blogs other than your own or on social network sites or in an online publication are ineligible and should not be submitted.
2. Entrants may submit only one entry per category of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
3. Fiction and non-fiction entries must be not longer than 3,500 words. Poetry entries must be not longer than 50 lines.
4. Format:
   • a. Detachable cover sheet including author’s name, address, telephone number, email address (if available), category (fiction, non-fiction, poetry) and title.
   • b. All other pages must show contest category, title and page number in the header. If the author’s name appears on any page of the manuscript other than the cover sheet, the entry will be disqualified.
   • c. Prose (fiction and non-fiction) manuscripts must be printed in a plain, legible font, such as Times New Roman in 12-to 13- pitch. Manuscripts must be printed on 8 ½ by 11-inch white paper, double-spaced, with one-inch margins top, bottom and left, and a ragged right margin.
   • d. Poetry manuscripts must be printed in a plain, legible font, such as Times New Roman in 12- to 13-pitch. Manuscripts must be single-spaced and printed on 8 ½ by 11-inch white paper with one-inch margins top, bottom and left. 
5. Submissions shall be in both paper and e-mail formats. Submissions shall be mailed to the coordinator by regular mail to the address below. They shall also be submitted to the e-mail address below.
6. Submissions not in accord with format and other rules will be disqualified.
7. State winning entries in each category may be published in Portable Data File (*.pdf) format, on the VWC Web site. All other rights remain the property of the author.
8. Manuscripts for the second-tier contest will not be returned.

ATTENTION VWC CHAPTERS! 
Winning Chapter entries need to be submitted by SEPT. 1 to:

Jim Morrison

80 Chickadee Circle 

Moneta, VA 24121

morrison.jamesw@gmail.com

SUBMIT ENTRIES TO YOUR LOCAL VWC CHAPTER BY THEIR SPECIFIED DEADLINE 
Each Chapter has its own guidelines, deadline and membership requirements for entering the Chapter-level contest. All Chapters must adhere to the state contest rules. Some Chapters require membership in their Chapter, some don’t.

All entries in the second-tier State VWC contest must be a first-place Chapter-level entry and the entrant must be a State VWC member. If winner at the Chapter-level is not a member of the State VWC, a membership application and payment of dues must accompany the entry.

Contact your local VWC Chapter to find out what the deadline is for Chapter Contest Submissions! NOTE: Entries sent by writers directly to VWC for State contest will not be accepted.

Each Chapter president is responsible for forwarding only the first-place entries from the Chapter competition (in each of the three categories), written by a member of the VWC ore a writer who completes and application to join the VWC and submits a check for annual dues of $30 to accompany the entry.

STATE VWC AWARDS: 
There are ten VWC Chapters in the state. Only first-place winners from the Chapters will be eligible for the state contest. That means only 30 entries will be forwarded for the State competition -- ten entries total per category (fiction, nonfiction, poetry) -- by the State Deadline of Sept. 1. Winners of State VWC Contest will be announced and awards presented at the State VWC Annual Meeting on NOVEMBER 1. Awards for each category: First Place-$100; Second Place-$50; Third Place-$25.